Taye 


zs ss 

DO tiretid 

‘ ony £ 
ve 


at 
hae 
Settee 
Peak irk hans 
Sage hte 
ty : 
: 


‘i 
Ves, 
Ny an aie 


Wh 


oe 
rte 


aa 


ate 


rs 
oe, BONK < 











+ 
CRY ae “J 
LAR ay SS 


MY a 


as nth 


PAE PN 

ea, Ong et 
LS 
Rae 


ae 
Whe ny 
eX . 
r ae 
Nase eat 
\ perl cal o 
Migteies 


a 
f) 
ae, 


<b 
suet t 
oes bee 


ay 


. 


die are 
an i 


peta 


at 
batt 


iN 


cacti! 
ne 


i 
io Seater ae 


>, a 
vs 
etherctia 


et 
iin +n 


VS 


serie 


—< 


eee aE RS 
u 
= PK, 
sclnt Sar eB 
LNs Sy 
Parateros 
a 


%- 


a 


+. 
mt 


erty 


he), 

Mireoe 

rim. 
ay, 


‘\, 
ie 
> 


a 
ayers 
Sole 


a 


* 
. 
* 


LS 
tes 


‘ 


6 We 


2, 


Se eat 

apart 
§ + 

Fees ‘ ‘ t¢ se ce 
s f ao ate pace Ti ea? ! SPSS Keer 
ta 
N 7 ae 4 
LOR ct ee 


AwteLcry 
ANN 

as 
Rae 


es 
mente 


~ 
fo 


a5 


se! 
xe 


“4 


hear 


~ 


* cose 


fs 


iM 


oor 


a 


pre eD 


ta Om 
Stem ls 





LIBRARY 


OF THE 


UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 


IDE a T rmr 
ROFT LIBRARY . 





ae 
“7 Pe 


4 Te 7k 














CONFUCIUS 


AND TUE 


CHINESE CLASSICS. 





CONFUCIUS 


AND THE 


CHINESE CLASSICS: 


READINGS IN CHINESE LITERATURE. 


EDITED AND COMPILED 


BY 


REV. A. W. LOOMIS. 









€ 


, Sa 


au 


of 


SAN FRANCISCO: 
A ROMAN & CO MP AM. ye. 
Nos, 417 AND 419 MONTGOMERY STREET, 
NEW YORK: NO. 17 MERCER ST. 
1867. 





Entered according to Act of Congress, A. D. 1867, by 
A. ROMAN & COMPANY, 
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the 
District of California. 





ee 
orig ois s eee e? e s 
o*s e ee © © “eo 
Lee a oe f@ of ee « 
e ° e «6 ee e ¢¢6 
oe 
eo @ © .% 4% tere e © <e a 
BS REGO LO gh Ole Oo ere © @e 
Coe Senge 422% ee e ©, e 
© eee ee ee "e* © @eees oe *e® 


Wn. Fao.tkner & Son, STEREOTY PERS, 
411 Clay Street. 


CONG EINES. 





PART I. 
HISTORY AND BIOGRAPLIY. 
PAGE 
Chinese History down to the Christian Era ..... stoseedoves 35 
Ancient Empire of China.......... anemone a te niece ty phn 27 
tke O SOORISCIUD oie a 0 do codes aus Saks Oh Ware maecis éeusen pet aS 


PART II. 
THE FOUR BOOKS. 


BOOK FIRST—CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 
CHAPTER I.—What the Disciples of Confucius say of Him. 67 


. IL—Theology and Religion.........essescsecees $2 
# TIT.—Domieestic: Relationss’s iacscccscceccoesve ese 
Lk IV.—Ethics ........ NAS Gn ae DSA Ree or Ra eae 90 
“ V.—-On, Government rccpccic seus vecddadevesees 117 
is VI.—Maxims ........... Deaths adie heaw at Gtem cnns kao 


BOOK SECOND--THE GREAT LEARNING. 


CHAPTER I.—Government of Family and State....... coves 23% 
f Il.—State Offices and Emolume.ts .............. 135 
RL Lier ve CAMINO Ws Leone Kee EG 50 cbt cobb sep nes 138 


BOOK THIRD-—-THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. 


CHapTer I.—The Path of Duty..........cccceesencccee 142 
i Ii.—Picture of the Perfect Man ......6...0.cs00. 146 
« —_ III.—Rules for the Government of the Empire..... 150 
DURE Ni er ETIM se sicigie.vinia- sale vce saepieeevecsws sess 153 
* Wi MR ISORLIANCOUS <4 ono hese 5 cen 5 6% cons ee coeeies 156 


235147 


vi CONTENTS. 


BOOK FOURTH—MENCIUS, 


CHAPTER I.--On Government............. iadelssever. ss 164 

* II.—Metaphysics and Morals .........cceeeeeees 205 

“- III.—Ideal of the Perfect Man ................0.4. 225 

*  TV.—Domestic*Repulations : Foss se. yes ase es vec's 236 

¥ V.—Miscellaneous ........... SEE TT eT ee 251 

PART III. 
SELECTIONS. 

Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties ..........000-s00-: 265 
A Confucian Tract -¢ 260i. i tea vedere ea cceseeaciseebetes 268 
We Budhist Tents s disiies Stace eww eee Ce bie cise omens ert. 275 
Wie Rationalists. cides fives cegaswsee cap eevee these eteeate 278 
Apiet AAtOPALUIC; Waves Ciao rss wokes hae ove dpe cccecureer® 289 
Directory for the Whole Site. oct Fade sie oven cvs vc csseves oe 292 
PROPOR UA MOLICLUCULG 15 su ca srg oi train WR COMI So va wl a cdc 298 
eRe MATP OU OR COC DUE 5 Uierck a oe aun pAse seh osha gente es oe 307 
ge Precocions Vrms ns ses Epes san Pek ere Sede Hees 312 
Harmony between Husband and Wife..........seeeeeesses 318 
a NOUsATI KNatACter KTASSIC. . cine a phe eins okie saWeis.s Wee 30sec 331 
PRAM Pes OF A 1) MOOG Se ccc s gto meae's ens ese ee AL ey a4 3s 337 
Chinese Moral Maxis \, + ice. wale.<n's 4 sawn cunniey es nd us side 344 
Apothems:and Proverbs 2; .:as0%sisneensiemes ed hesees oem 351 
Aphorisms by Dr. Hu Tsin-Yang ..........cseeecceccceees 356 
mncient Chinesé POCwy sing ss kn5a vasa sane swale eke ewes 357 
Modern Chinese Poetry.......+..-eeeeee Lec Mah eles cae ah 360 
A Recent Visit to the Classic Grounds of China............ 371 


PART IV. 
EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


REMARKS ON THE DOCTRINES TAUGHT BY THE CHINESE 
SAGES, AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE CHINESE MIND. 393 


PREFACE: 


RECENTLY there: has been an unusual call for books 
on China. The increasing commerce between this coun- 
try and that ancient and wealthy kingdom has attracted 
the attention of all intelligent men of business, while the 
close proximity of our western coast to China has awa- 
kened a desire among a large portion of our people to 
gain a more thorough acquaintance with our neighbors: 
especially has this been found to be the case since the 
establishment of the line of mail steamers by the Pacific 
Mail Steamship Company, by which both commerce and 
travel are destined to be greatly augmented. 

The presence of many Chinamen in our own country 
is another reason for the strong desire that has been ob- 
served to obtain books which may enable one better to 
understand the character, social habits, and religious be- 
liefs of this strange people. 

To meet all these demands, a Book Firm of this city 


vili PREFACE. 


has spared no pains or expense to bring together as com- 
plete a collection of works on China as was possible. 
Such as were not to be obtained at home have been 
ordered from abroad; and among the publications so 
collected—chief among them, we may say—are the first 
four of a work, which, when complete, will consist of 
fourteen thick octavo volumes, which, when finished, 
will be a translation of all the Chinese classics. In 
them are given both the original Chinese text and the 
English translation ; having copious notes in English, 
with Chinese characters interspersed. 

While these volumes are a rare literary curiosity, and 
of immense value to every student in the Chinese lan- 
guage and literature, yet the price at which they are of- 
fered holds them far above the reach of the mass of 
readers. We hope, however, as these volumes shall suc- 
cessively appear, they may be honored with a place on 
the shelves of most of our public libraries: the libraries 
of all literary institutions ought by afl means to pos- 
sess them. 

Because this work contains a vast amount of valuable 
and interesting matter which should in some form be laid 
before the public, the compiler of this book has been 
urged to undertake the work, the result of which he 
herewith offers to the reader. 

A large portion of this volume consists of extracts 
from the famous Four Books of Confucius and his disci- 


PREFACE. ix 


ples, translated by the Rev. James Legge, D.D., one of 
the missionaries of the London Missionary Society, and 
who here presents us some of the ripe fruit of a thirty 
years’ study of the Chinese language and literature. 

We flatter ourselves that the task we have undertaken 
will be regarded by the translator as a friendly office, by 
which his herculean labors and patient study in this di- 
rection will be brought into more general notice than 
otherwise they could have been, and thereby, as we be- 
lieve, a demand will be created for the entire work. 

Except for the great distance and the ocean inter- 
vening, we might have availed ourselves of his better 
judgment both in the selections and in the arrangement. 

So far as regards the selections from the Four Books, 
our design has been to go carefully through them, and 
gather a few sentences on the various subjects which 
were treated by the Chinese authors, and arrange them 
under their appropriate heads. 

Those familiar with the originals may miss some pas- 
sages which they have met in their reading and greatly 
admired, and which, in their opinion, would have en- 
hanced the value of this volume; our object, however, 
has not been to exhaust the mine, but merely to pro- 
duce a few specimens ; and we can assure the reader that 
as valuable ore remains to reward his search as any 
that we have here produced. 


The reader will find in this volume not merely what has 
1* 


Xx PREFACE. 


been gathered from the Four Books, but also selections 
from several other departments of Chinese literature. 

The “Middle Kingdom,” by Dr. S. Wells Williams, 
has afforded us valuable assistance. The Life of Con- 
fucius, which we have inserted, has been compiled from 
the British Encyclopedia, from Williams, and from other 
sources. The sketch of history is from Williams and 
from Legge, and others. We have obtained help from 
the Chinese Repository, and from the “Transactions 
of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society.” 

The variety of miscellaneous pieces will be found 
credited, where they occur, to their respective authors 
and translators, so far as they were known. 

One design in the issuing of this work has been to 
answer some of the numerous questions which people 
are constantly asking respecting the Chinese, their po- 
litical, domestic, and social habits, their religious be- 
liefs, and the source from which they have been de- 
rived. By this volume the reader is introduced to 
Chinese society as it existed two thousand years ago ; 
and as Chinese customs, ceremonies, religious and po- 
litical creeds have changed but little during this suc- 
cession of generations through twenty centuries, to 
learn what China was in the days of Confucius is to 
learn, in a great measure, what China is to-day. 

China is the oldest kingdom on the globe; the wise 
statesman will, therefore, avail himself of the means 


PREFACE. Xl 


here afforded for learning what causes may have operated 
towards the preservation of this one nation, while in all 
other parts of the earth thrones have been set up and 
demolished, and kingdoms have arisen and decayed in 
constant. succession. 

This book is desirable, not as a curiosity merely ; it 
contains a large amount of sound instruction. The 
chapter on Political Economy is worthy of careful studv 
by all college professors. The considerations which 
should govern in the choice of public officers, the mo- 
tives which should actuate the candidate in the accept- 
ance of office, and the line of conduct which public men 
ought ever to pursue, are treated in an admirable style, 
and will be admired not only for their wisdom, but as 
particularly appropriate for the country and the times in 
which we live. 

Those fond of metaphysics and of ethics will, at least, 
be entertained with the readings under these heads, 
which are supplied from Mencius. 

The character which was impressed upon the old Puri- 
tan stock, and which through many generations has not 
yet been entirely worn away, was in part enstamped 
upon the susceptible minds of the children, while study- 
ing the pictures, the texts, and the sentiments which 
were cut in the bricks of those spacious fire-places in 
which they lived in Holland: so in China, the walls of 
their dwellings, shops, and public halls are adorned with 


s9 


xu PREFACE. 


scrolls on which are inscribed sentiments from their an- 
cient authors ; even the bowls with which three times a 
day their tables are set, and the cups from which at all 
hours they sip their tea, are written over with verses from 
the Book of Odes, with proverbs, and maxims. Let us, 
therefore, learn what is the character of the mottoes and 
maxims which they are constantly reading and repeating, 
and which must exert a powerful influence in forming 
and preserving, as it is, the character of this nation of 
three hundred and sixty or four hundred millions of 
people. 

The Chinese are proverbially a reading people: let us 
know what it is they read. 

The classics, especially the Four Books, are the Scrip- 
tures—the holy books of the Chinese, From them, and 
particularly from the Lun Yu of the Four Books, the 
themes are taken which are given to the students at the 
examinations. ‘These books furnish the texts on which 
Chinese moralists of modern times found their dis- 
courses and tracts designed to exhort the people to 
virtue. ; 

These classical works, as well as all books put into 
the hands of children in the schools, are committed to 
memory by Chinese scholars, old and young ; and they 
are so thoroughly learned that were every scrap of writ- 
ing in China to be destroyed, they could be restore1 
again from the memories of many thousands of the lit- 
erary men. 


PREFACE, xii 


Considering the high antiquity of these writings, their 
great intrinsic worth, the perfection in which they have 
been preserved, the vast number of people whose char- 
acters have been moulded by them, it is surprising that 
in all the world so few people outside of China have 
learned anything about them ; now, however, as has been 
intimated, a desire is beginning to be awakened to learn 
more of China and its literature. 

In this volume will be found quotations from the Book 
of Rites, a few examples from the Book of Odes, and 
specimens of Chinese composition and style of thought 
of a later date than Confucius, and these on several 
subjects. 

We have spoken of the high estimation in which the 
people of China hold these works of their ancient sages ; 
it amounts almost, if not quite, to a religious veneration ; 
indeed, letters, in their view, are sacred: they allow no 
printed paper—nothing on which there is writing of any 
kind in the Chinese character—to be put to an ignoble 
use, to be used for wrapping paper, or to be trampled 
under foot. There are men employed to go around 
gathering up all waste documents and pieces of printed 
paper, which are burned in a formal manner near some 
shrine or temple. 

Further remarks to aid the reader may be found in 
an Introduction to the Four Books, in the body of the 
work. 





Mis TOR ¥: 





A BRIEF OUTLINE OF CIIINESE HISTORY, DOWN TO 
THE TIMES OF CONFUCIUS AND MENCIUS, 





CHINESE historians have endeavored to explain the 
creation and origin of the world around them ; but, ig- 
norant of the sublime fact that there is one Creator who 
upholds His works by the word of His power, they have 
invented various modes of accounting for it, and wearied 
themselves in theorizing and disputing with each other. 
One of them, Yangtsz, remarks, in view of these conflict- 
ing suppositions: “Who knows the affairs of remote 
antiquity, since no authentic records have come down to 
us? He who examjnes these stories will find it difficult 
to believe them, and careful scrutiny will convince him 
that they are without foundation. Inthe primeval ages 
no historical records were kept. Why then, since the an- 
cient books that described those times were burnt by 
Tsin, should we misrepresent those remote ages, and sat- 


€ 
Gir < 
c t 


46 6 &  & o “<“ANCIENT’ HISTORY OF CHINA. 


isfy ourselves with vague fables? But as everything except 
heaven and earth must have a cause, it is clear that they 
have always existed, and that cause produced all sorts of 
men and beings, and endowed them with their various 
qualities. But it must have been man who in the be- 
ginning produced all things on earth, and who may there- 
fore be viewed as the lord, and from whom rulers derive 
their dignities.” Mencius said : “It would be better to 
be without the Book of History, than to give entire credit 
to it.’ The Book of History here mentioned is the Shoo 
King ; and if he speaks thus of the records of Yaou, and 
Shun, and other ancient emperors, how much more would 
he discredit these mythological histories. 

Most of the Chinese imagine that the world owes its 
existence to the retroactive agency of the dual powers 
yang and yim, which first formed the outline of the 
universe, and were themselves influenced by their own 
creations. One of their authors says : 

“ Heaven was formless—an utter chaos ; and the whole 
mass was nothing but confusion. Order was first pro- 
duced in the pure ether, and out of it the universe came 
forth. The universe produced air, and air the milky 
way. When the pure male principle yang had been di- 
luted, it formed the heavens; the heavy and thick 
parts coagulated, and formed the earth. ‘The refined 
particles united very soon, but the union of the thick 
and heavy went on slowly ; therefore the heavens came 
into existence first, and the earth afterwards. From 
the subtle essence of heaven and earth, the dual prin- 
ciples yang and yim were formed. From their joint 
operation came the four seasons, and these putting forth 
their energies gave birth to all the products of the earth. 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 17 


The warm effluence of the yang being condensed pro- 
duced fire, and the finest parts of fire formed the sun. 
The cold exhalations of the yzz being likewise condensed 
produced water, and the finest parts of the watery sub- 
stance formed the moon. By the seminal influence of 
the sun and moon, came the stars. Thus heaven was 
adorned with the sun, moon, and stars. ‘The earth also 
received rain, rivers, and dust.” 

But this acute explanation, like the notions of Hesiod 
among the Greeks, was too subtle for the common 
people. ‘They also wanted to personify and deify these 
powers and operations ; but lacking the imaginative 
genius and fine taste of the Greeks, their mythological 
personages are outrageous, and their theories shape- 
less monsters. No creator of the world is known 
or imagined, who, like Brahm, lives in space, ineffable, 
formless. But the first man, Pwanku, had a herculean 
task given him—no less a work than to mould the chaos 
which produced him, and chisel out the earth that was to 
contain him. The Rationalists picture him holding a 
chisel and mallet in his hands, splitting and fashioning 
vast masses of granite floating confusedly in space. Be- 
hind the openings his powerful hand has made are seen 
the sun, moon, and stars, monuments of his stupendous 
labors ; and at his right hand, inseparable companions of 
his toils, but whose generation is left in obscurity, stand 
the dragon, the phoenix, and the tortoise, and sometimes 
the unicorn—divine types and progenitors with himself 
of the animal creation. His efforts were continued 
eighteen thousand years, and by small degrees he and 
his work increased ; the heavens rose ; the earth spread 
out and thickened ; and Pwanku grew in stature six feet 


18 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


every day, till, his labor done, he died for the benefit of 
his handiwork. His head became mountains, his breath 
wind and clouds, and his voice thunder. His limbs were 
changed into the four poles, his veins into rivers, his 
sinews into the undulations of the earth’s surface, and his 
flesh into fields ; his beard, like Berenice’s hair, was turned 
into stars ; his skin and hair into herbs and trees; and 
his teeth, bones, and marrow, into metals, rocks, and 
precious stones ; his dropping sweat increased to rain ; 
and lastly, (uascitur ridiculus mus) the insects which 
stuck to his body were transformed into people ! 

Pwanku was succeeded by three rulers of monstrous 
forms, called the Celestial, Terrestrial, and Human Soy- 
ereigns, impersonations of a trinity of powers, whose 
traces and influences run through Chinese philosophy, 
religion, and politics. Their acts and characters are de- 
tailed with the utmost gravity, and more than Methusa- 
lean longevity allowed them to complete their plans. 
Their reigns continued eighteen thousand years (more or 
less, according to the author quoted) during which time 
good government commenced, men learned to eat and 
drink, the sexes united, sleep was invented, and other 
improvements adopted. One would think, if the sub- 
_jects of these wonderful beings were so long lived, great 
perfection might have been attained in these and other 
useful arts ; but the mysterious tortoise, companion of 
Pwanku, on whose carapace was written in tadpole-headed 
characters the history of the anterior world, did not sur- 
vive, and their record has not come down. 

After them flourished two other monarchs, one of them 
being called Yu-chau, which means having a nest, and 
the other Sui-jin, or #atch-man. Whether the former in- 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 19 


vented nests for the abode of his subjects, such as the 
Indians on the Oronoco have, is not stated ; but the 
latter brought down fire from heaven for them to cook 
with, and became the second, or rather the first, Pro- 
metheus. 

Chinese mythological history ends with the appear- 
ance of Fuhhi, and their chronology should not be 
charged with the long periods antecedent, varying from 
forty-five to five hundred thousand years, for the people 
themselves do not believe this duration. These periods 
are, however, a mere twinkling compared with the Kul- 
pas of the Hindus, whose highest era, called the Un- 
speakably Inexpressible, requires 4,456,448 cyphers fol- 
lowing a unit to represent it. 

The accession of Fuhhi is placed in the Chinese an- 
nals, B.c. 2852, or eight years after the death of Enos, 
1152 years after the creation, and 508 before the deluge, 
according to the common received chronology of Usher. 
Fuhhi and his seven successors are stated to have reigned 
747 years, averaging 93 each. ‘Those who follow Usher 
consider these monarchs, if they ever had an existence, 
to be Chinese travesties of the eight antediluvian patri- 
archs. The common chronology brings the deluge about 
thirteen years after the accession of Yau, and the death 
of Shun, the last of the eight, B.c. 2205, or twenty-five 
years after the confusion of tongues. According to Hales, 
the last epoch is one hundred and twelve years before the 
call of Abraham, and these eight Chinese monarchs are, 
therefore, contemporaries of the patriarchs who lived be- 
tween Shem and Abraham, commencing with Salah, and 
ending with Nahor. The duration of their reigns, more- 
over, is such as would bear the same proportion to ages 


20 ANCIENT HISLORY OF CHINA. 


of five hundred years, which their contemporaries lived, 
as the present average of twenty or twenty-five years does 
to a life of sixty. 

To Shinnung, z. e. Divine Husbandman, and Hwangti, 
Zz. e. Yellow Emperor, are also ascribed many valuable 
inventions. The first was the patron of agriculture, and 
discoverer of the medicinal properties of herbs ; the sec- 
ond invented the cycle now in use; the calendar was 
formed in his reign, and characters were made for record- 
ing events. The Chinese annalists fill up the reigns of 
these chiefs, and their successors, down to the time of 
Yau, with a series of inventions and improvements in the 
arts of life and good government, sufficient to bring soci- 
ety to that degree of comfort and order they suppose 
consonant with the character of the monarchs. The ear- 
liest records of the Chinese correspond rather too closely 
with their present character to receive full belief; but 
while they may be considered as unworthy of entire con- 
fidence, it will be allowed that they present an appear- 
ance of probability and naturalness hardly possessed by 
the early annals of Greece. 

The establishment of the sexagenary cycle in the sixty- 
first year of Hwangtti’s reign, after the deluge, and eighty- 
two years after the death of Arphaxad, is a remarkable 
record ; and although it would have been easy, as many 
suppose was done, to have antedated it at some subse- 
quent period in order to impose upon themselves with 
the belief of antiquity, no arguments or facts are adduced 
to prove that such was the case. 

Three reigns, averaging eighty years’ duration, inter- 
vened between that of Hwangti and the celebrated Yau, 
but no records have come down of the history of the rul- 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 21 


ers, except that they lived and died. They were all elected 
by the people, much as were Shamgar, Jephthah, and 
other judges in Israel, and probably exercised a similar 
sway. The reigns and character of Yau and Shun have 
been immortalized by Confucius, and whatever was their 
real history, that sage showed his sagacity in going back 
to their remote times for his models, and fixing upon a 
period neither fabulous nor certain ; one which prevented 
the cavils of skepticism and the appearance of complete 
fabrication. Whether they were fictitious personages or 
not, they are represented as following those principles of 
government which every man of sound judgment must 
approve ; and their system of religious rites savors strongly 
of the simplicity of patriarchal times, when even in China 
the knowledge of the true God was not utterly lost. 

A tremendous deluge occurred during the reign of Yau, 
B.C. 2293, caused, it is said, by the overflowing of the riv- 
ers in the north of China. Those who place the Noachic 
deluge B.c. 2348, regard this as only a different version 
of that event ; the variation of fifty years being unimpor- 
tant. M. Klaproth, who favors the Septuagint chro- 
nology, says it is nearly synchronous with the deluge of 
Xisuthrus, B.c. 2297. The record of this catastrophe in 
the Shu King is hardly applicable to an overwhelming 
flood. “Grandees,” said the emperor, “we suffer much 
from the inundation ; the waters cover the hills on every 
side ; they overtop the mountains, and seem to be rising 
even to the skies. If any one can be found who is able 
to remedy this evil, I wish he may be employed.” They 
presented Kwan as a proper man, but he showed his ineffi- 
ciency in laboring nine years without success to drain off 
the waters. Yau was then advised to employ Shun, who 


22 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


called in Yu, a son of Kwan,-to his aid, and the floods 
were assuaged by deepening the beds of the rivers, and 
opening new channels. These slight notices hardly com- 
port with a flood like the Noachic deluge, and are with 
much greater probability referred to an overflow of one 
of the great rivers, or to the change in the bed of the 
Yellow River from its former source into the Gulf of Pe- 
chele, through Chihli, northeast to its present one along 
the lowlands of Kiangsu. In our view of the chronology 
of the Bible, as compared with the Chinese, it requires a 
far greater constraint upon these records to bring them 
to refer, to that event, than to suppose they allude to a 
local disaster not beyond the power of remedy. These 
remarks of Yau may also have been put into their pres- 
ent shape by Confucius nearly seventeen centuries after- 
wards, and it may be supposed, without militating against 
their authenticity, that the extent of the flood has been 
described so as to do some honor to the distinguished 
men who remedied it. 

The records in the Shu King of Yau and Shun, and 
their successor Yu the Great, who began to reign B.c. 
2205, are longer than those of any other persons who 
lived prior to Abraham. ‘Those who follow Usher, re- 
gard Yu as being the leader of the first band of colonists 
from the West after the deluge, one hundred and thirty- 
nine years before,—much too short a time, however, for 
the collecting of a large colony, when the intermediate 
countries were barely settled, and men were more inclined 
to join their efforts in building a tower. The chronicle 
represents the merits of Yu to have been first exhibited 
in reducing the waters, and dividing the country into nine 
regions, and as he had assisted Shun in his government 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


during his lifetime, he was unanimously called to the va- 
cant dignity, and became the founder of the Hia dynasty. 

Chinese historians supply many details regarding the 
conduct of Yu and Kieh Kwei, the first and last Princes 
of the house of Hia, all the credible particulars of 
which are taken from the classics, particularly the Book 
of Records. One of the most remarkable records of the 
reign of Yu, is an inscription traced on the rocks of 
Hang shan, one of the mountains where annual sacrifices 
were made by the ancient emperors, and preserved in 
Si-ngan fu in Shensi. This inscription relates to the 
inundation, and is thus given by Amyot, who regards it 
as genuine, although it cannot be allowed to possess the 
same authenticity in its copied form, as the inscriptions 
at Karnac and Mosul, which are still, so to speak, zz 
situ. 

“The venerable emperor said, Oh! aid and coun- 
selor! Who will help me in administering my affairs ? 
The great and little islets (the inhabited places) even to 
their summits, the abodes of the beasts and birds and 
all beings, are widely inundated. Advise, send back the 
waters, and raise the dikes. For along time I have 
quite forgotten my family ; I repose on the top of the 
mountain Yohlu. By prudence and my labors, I have 
moved the spirits; I know not the hours, but repose 
myself only in my incessant labors. The mountains 
Hwa, Yoh, Tai, and Hang have been the beginning and 
end of my enterprise ; when my labors were completed, 
I offered a thanksgiving sacrifice at the solstice. My - 
affliction has ceased ; the confusion in nature has disap- 
peared ; the deep currents coming from the south flow 
into the sea; clothes can now be made, food can be 


24 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


prepared ; all kingdoms will be at peace, and we can 
give ourselves to continual joy.” 

Whatever may be the exact date of this legend, it is 
confessedly a very ancient one, perhaps the most ancient 
of any in the world, though the tombs of Beni-Hassan, 
and the obelisk at F.eliopolis erected by Osirtasen, are 
nearly as old, and much more trustworthy in regard to 
their antiquity. Chinese historians do not discard it, 
nor the facts recorded of the princes of Hia, for those 
times would then be blank; but they receive them with 
doubt. 

The Hia Dynasty, founded by Yu the Great, existed 
four hundred and thirty-nine years, down to B.c. 1766, 
under seventeen monarchs, the records of whose reigns 
are very brief. Among the contemporary events of im- 
portance, are the call of Abraham, Jacob’s flight to 
Mesopotamia, and Joseph’s elevation in Egypt. 

The Shang Dynasty began with Chingtang, B.c. 1766, 
and continued six hundred and forty-four years, under 
twenty-eight sovereigns, down to B.c. 1122. This pe- 
riod was characterized by wars among rival princes, 
and the power of the sovereign depended chiefly upon 
his personal character. The principal contemporary 
events were the exodus of the Israelites, their settle- 
ment in Palestine, judgeship of Othniel, of Deborah, of 
Gideon, of Samson, and death of Samuel. The first 
monarch of this dynasty, Chingtang, is reputed to have 
paid religious worship to Shangti, the Supreme Ruler, 
under which name, perhaps, the true God was intended. 

The Chau Dynasty began with Wu Wang, and contin- 
ued for eight hundred and seventy-three years, under 
thirty-five monarchs, down to B.c. 249; the longest of 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 25 


any record in history. The sway of many of these was 
little more than nominal, and the feudal states increased 
or diminished according to the vigor of the monarch, or 
the ambition of the princes. Among the feudal states 
under the house of Chau, that of Tsin on the northwest 
had long been the most powerful, occupying nearly a 
fifth of the country, and its inhabitants forming a tenth 
of the whole popuiation. 

Mention has been made of the burning of the Ancient 
Books, by the founder of the Tsin Dynasty. It occurred 
about B.C. 212, and is always referred to as the great- 
est disaster; and with it was coupled the slaughter of 
many of the literati, by the same monarch. 

The emperor’s ministers had represented to him, that 
the scholars of his day gave their time to the study of 
antiquity, and to eulogizing the rulers and the customs 
of former times, instead of devoting their talents, as be- 
came them, to studying the laws and strengthening the 
power of the government under which they lived ; there- 
fore they advised that all the books should be burned, 
excepting only those on medicine, divination, and hus- 
bandry. The emperor followed their suggestion. 

It cannot be supposed that a complete destruction of 
the ancient books of China was effected by this monarch. 

Some remained in the hands of individuals, in whole 
or in parts, and it was a work for future scholars to col- 
lect, arrange, and reproduce these works, some of which 
reproduction may have been made, perhaps, partly by 
the aid of memory and partly by traditions. 


As our only object in this very brief historical sketch 


is to prepare the reader in some measure to understand 
2 


26 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


the character of the times in which those personages 
lived who are referred to in this volume, and to know 
what portion of the world they lived in, it will not be 
necessary to bring down the history to.a later period 
than that when Confucius and his principal disciples 
were upon the stage; and in order to present a more 
complete view of those times, we have transferred from 
the volumes of Dr. Legge his description of the “An- 
cient Empire of China.” 


THE ANCIENT EMPIRE OF CHINA. 





ENTRANCE OF THE CHINESE INTO CHINA——-OTHER EARLY 
SETTLERS—GROWTH OF THE TRIBE INTO A NATION— 
RELIGION AND SUPERSTITIONS—FORM AND ISSUES OF 
THE GOVERNMENT. 


AxzouT two thousand years before our Christian era, 
the Chinese tribe first appeared in the country where it 
has since increased so greatly. It then occupied a small 
extent of territory, on the east and north of the Ho— 
the more southern portion of the present province of 
Shan-se. As its course continued to be directed to the 
east and south, (though after it crossed the Ho it pro- 
ceeded to extend itself westward as well) we may con- 
clude that it had come into China from the northwest. 
Believing that we have in the tenth chapter of the Book 
of Genesis some hints, not to be called in question, of 
__ the way in which the whole earth was overspread by the 
families of the sons of Noah, I suppose that the family, 
or collection of families—the tribe—which has since 
grown into the most numerous of the nations, began to 
move eastward, from the regions between the Black and 


28 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


Caspian Scas, not long after the confusion of tongues. 
Going on, between the Atlantic range of mountains on 
the north, and the Tauric range, with its continuations, 
on the south, but keeping to the sunny and more attract- 
ive south as much as it could, the tribe found itself, at the 
time I have mentioned, between 40° and 45° N. L., mov- 
ing parallel with the Yellow River in the most northern 
portion of its course. It determined to follow the stream, 
turned south with it, and moved along its eastern bank, 
making settlements where the country promised most 
advantages, till it was stopped by the river ceasing its 
southward flow, and turning again towards the east. 
Thus the present Shan-se was the cradle of the Chinese 
empire. The tribe dwelt there for a brief space, consol- 
idating its strength under the rule of chieftains who held 
their position by their personal qualities more than by 
any privileges of hereditary descent ; and then gradually 
forced its way east, west, and south, conflicting with the 
physical difficulties of the country, and prevailing over 
the opposition of ruder and less numerous neighbors. 
Neighbors? Yes. The arrival of the Chinese tribe 
had been anticipated by others. These may have left 
the original seat of our infant race in the West earlier 
than it ; or they may have left it at the same time. If 
they did so, the wave of emigration had broken in its 
progress. Some portions had separated from the main 
body, and found their way into the present province of 
Shan-se ; and others, pursuing the same direction with it, 
but moving with more celerity, had then been pushed for- 
ward, by its advance, towards the sea, and subsequently 
along the seaboard, trying to make good a position for 
themselves among the mountains and along the streams 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 29 


of the country. We are not to suppose that the land 
was peopled by these tribes. They were not then living 
under any settled government, nor were they afterwards 
able to form a union of their forces, which could cope 
with the growing power of the larger people. ‘They were 
scattered here and there over the region north of the Ho, 
gradually extending southward toward the Kéang. Hos- 
tilities were constantly breaking out between them and 
the Chinese, over whom they might gain, once and again, 
temporary advantages. ‘They increased in their degree, 
as well as those, and were far from being entirely sub- 
dued at the end of the Chow dynasty. Remnants of 
them still exist in a state of semi-independence in the 
southwestern parts of the empire. Amid the struggles. 
for the supreme power which arose when one dynasty 
gave place to another, and the constant contentions which 
prevailed among the States into which the empire was 
divided, the princes readily formed alliances with the 
chiefs of these wilder tribes. ‘They were of great assist- 
ance to King Woo in his conflict with the last sovereign 
of the dynasty of Shang. In the speech which he deliv- 
ered to his forces before the decisive battle in the wild 
of Muh, he addressed the “men of Yung, Shuh, Kéang, 
Maou, Wei, Loo, Pang, and Poh,” in addition to his own 
captains, and the rulers of friendly States. We are told 
that the wild tribes of the south and north, as well as the 
people of the great and flowery region, followed, and were 
consenting with him. 

Idward Biot calls attention to the designation of the 
early Chinese tribe or colony as “the black-haired peo- 
ple,” saying that they were doubtless so named in oppo- 
sition to the different or mixed color of the hair of the 


30 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


indigenous race. But I cannot admit any “indigenous 
race,”—any race that did not come from the same origi- 
nal center of the world’s population as the Chinese them- 
selves. ‘The wild tribes of which we read in the Shoo 
and Chinese history, were, no doubt, black-haired, as all 
the remnants of them are at the present day. If we must 
seek an explanation for the name of “ black-haired peo- 
ple,” as given to the early Chinese, I should say that its 
origin was anterior to their entrance into China, and that 
it was employed to distinguish them from other descend- 
ants of Noah, from whom they separated, and who, while 
they journeyed to the east, moved in an opposite and 
westward direction. 

It was to their greater civilization, and the various ele- 
ments of strength flowing from it, that the Chinese owed 
their superiority over other early settlers in the country. 
They were able, in virtue of this, to subdue the land and 
replenish it, while the ruder tribes were gradually pushed 
into corners, and finally were nearly all absorbed and lost 
in the prevailing race. The black-haired people brought 
with them habits of settled labor. Their wealth did not 
consist, like that of nomads, in their herds and flocks. 
Shun’s governors of provinces in the Shoo are called 
Pastors, or Herdsmen ; and Mencius speaks of princes 
generally as “Pastors of men ;” but pastoral allusions 
are very few in the literature of China. The people 
could never have been a tribe of shepherds. They dis- 
played, immediately on their settlement, an acquaintance 
with the arts of agriculture and weaving. The cultiva- 
tion of grain to obtain the staff of life, and of flax to 
supply clothing, at once received their attention. They 
knew, also, the value of the silkworm, and planted the. 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 31 


mulberry tree. The exchange of commodities—the prac- 
tice of commerce on a small scale—was, moreover, carly 
developed among them. It was long, indeed, before they 
had anything worthy of the name of a city; but fairs 
were established at convenient places, to which the peo- 
ple resorted from the farms and hamlets about, to barter 
their various wares. 

_In addition to the above endowments, the early Chi- 
nese possessed the elements of intellectual culture. 
They had some acquaintance with astronomy, knew ap- 
proximately the length of the year, and recognized the 
necessity of the practice of intercalation, to prevent the 
‘seasons, on a regard to which their processes of agricul- 
ture depended, from getting into disorder. They pos- 
sessed also the elements of their present written charac- 
ters. The stories current, and which are indorsed by 
statements in the later semi-classical books, about the 
invention of the characters of Ts’angkee, in the time of 
Hwang-te, are of no value ; and it was not till the Chow 
dynasty and the reign particularly of King Seuen (B.c. 
825-779) that anything like a dictionary of them was 
attempted to be compiled. But the original immigrants, 
I believe, brought with them the art of ideographic writ- 
ing or engraving. It was rude and imperfect, but it was 
sufficient for the recording of simple observations of the 
stars in their courses, and the surface of the earth, and 
for the orders to be issued by the government of the 
time. As early as the beginning of the Shang dynasty, 
B.c. 1765, we find E Yin presenting a written memorial 
to his sovereign. 

The habits of the other settlers were probably more 
warlike than those of the Chinese, but their fury would 


32 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA: 


exhaust itself in predatory raids. They were incapable 
of any united or persistent course of action. We cannot 
wonder that they were in the long run supplanted and 
absorbed by a race with the characteristics and advanta- 
ges which I have pointed out. 

The chiefs and rulers of the ancient Chinese were not 
without some considerable knowledge of God ; but they 
were accustomed, on their first appearance in the coun- 
try, if the earliest portions of the Shoo can be relied on 
at all, to worship other spiritual beings as well. There 
was no sacerdotal or priestly class among them ; there 
were no revelations from heaven to be studied or: ex- 
pounded. ‘The chieftain was the priest for the tribe ; 
the emperor for the empire ; the prince of a State for his 
people ; the father for his family. 

Shun shad no sooner been designated by Yaou to the 
active duties of the government as coémperor with him, 
than “he offered a special sacrifice, but with the ordi- 
nary forms, to God ; sacrificed purely to six Honored 
ones ; offered their appropriate sacrifice to the rivers 
and hills; and extended his worship to the host of 
spirits.” Subsequently, in the progresses which he is 
reported to have made to the different mountains, where 
he met the princes of the several quarters of the empire, 
he always announced his proceedings with them by 
“ presenting a burnt offering to heaven, and sacrificing in 
order to the hills and rivers.” Ido not refer to these 
passages as veritable records of what Shun actually did ; 
but they are valuable, as being the ideas of the compilers 
of the Shoo King of what he should have done in his 
supposed circumstances. 

The name by which God was designated was ‘the 


* 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 33 


Ruler, and the Supreme Ruler, denoting emphatically His 
personality, supremacy, and unity. We find it constantly 
interchanged with the word heaven, by which the idea of 
supremacy and unity are equally conveyed, while that of 
personality is only indicated vaguely and by an associa- 
tion of the mind. By God, kings were supposed to 
reign, and princes were required to decree justice. All 
were under law to Him, and bound to obey His will. 
Even on the inferior people He has conferred a moral 
sense, compliance with which would show their nature 
invariably right. All powers that be are from Him. He 
raises one to the throne and puts down another. Obe- 
dience is sure to receive His blessing, disobedience to be 
visited with His curse. The business of kings is to rule 
in righteousness and benevolence, so that the people 
may be happy and good. ‘They are to be an example to 
all in authority, and to the multitudes under them. Their 
highest achievement is to cause the people tranquilly to 
pursue the course which their moral nature would indi- 
cate and approve. When they are doing wrong, God 
admonishes them by judgments, such as storms, famine, 
and other calamities. If they persist in evil, sentence goes 
forth against them. ‘The dominion is taken from them 
and given to others more worthy of it. 

The duke of Chow, in his address on “ The Estab- 
lishment of Government,” gives a striking summary of 
the history of the empire down to his own time. Yu the 
Great, the founder of the Hea dynasty, “sought for able 
men to honor God.” But the way of Kéé, the last of his 
line, was different. He employed cruel men, and he 
had no successors. ‘The empire was given to T’ang the 
Successful, who “ greatly administered the bright ordi- 

2* 


ball 


34 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


nances of God.” By and by T’ang’s throne came to 
Show, who was all violence, so that “God sovereignly 
punished him.” The empire was transferred to the 
House of Chow, whose chiefs showed their fitness for the 
charge by “ finding out men who would reverently serve 
God, and appointing them as presidents and chiefs of 
the people.” 

It was the duty of all men to reverence and honor 
God by obeying His law written in their hearts, and 
seeking His blessing in all their ways. But there was a 
solemn and national worship of Him as ruling in nature 
and providence, which could only be performed by the 
emperor. It consisted of sacrifices, or offerings rather, 
and prayers. No image was formed of Him, as indeed 
the Chinese have never thought of fashioning a likeness 
of the Supreme. 

Who the “six Honored ones,” whom Shun sacrificed 
to next to God, were, is not known. In going on to 
worship the hills and rivers and the host of spirits, he 
must have supposed that there were certain tutelary 
beings who presided over the more conspicuous objects 
of nature and its various processes. ‘They were under 
God, and could do nothing, excepting as they were per- 
mitted or empowered by Him ; but the worship of them 
was inconsistent with the truth that God demands to be 
recognized as “ He who worketh all in all,” and will 
allow no religious homage to be given to any but Him- 
self. It must have always been the parent of many 
superstitions, and it paved the way for the pantheism 
which enters largely into the belief of the Chinese of the 
present day, and of which we find one of the earliest 
steps in the practice, which commenced with the Chow 


" ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA... 35 


dynasty, of not only using the term Heaven as a synonym 
for God, but the combination Heaven and Earth. 

There was also among the early Chinese the religious 
worship of their departed friends, which still continues 
to be observed by all classes, from the emperor down- 
ward, and seems of all religious services to have the 
greatest hold upon the people. The title given in the 
Shoo to Shun’s minister of religion, is that of “ Arranger 
of the ancestral temple.” ‘The rule of Confucius, that 
“parents when dead, should be sacrificed to according 
to propriety,” was doubtless in accordance with a prac- 
tice which had come down from the earliest times of the 
nation. 

The spirits of the departed were supposed to have a 
knowledge of the circumstances of their descendants, 
and to be able to affect them. Events of importance 
in a family were communicated to them before their 
shrines ; many affairs of government were transacted in 
the ancestral temple. When Yaou demitted to Shun 
the business of the government, the ceremony took place 
in the temple of “the accomplished ancestor,” the indi- 
vidual to whom Yaou traced his possession of the 
supreme dignity ; and while Yaou lived, Shun on every © 
return to the capitol from his administrative progresses, 
offered a bullock before the shrine of the same person- 
age. In.the same way, when Shun found the ioils of 
goverament too heavy for him, and called Yu to share 
them, the ceremony took place in the temple of “the 
spiritual ancestor,” the chief in the line of Shun’s pro- 
genitors. In the remarkable narrative, which we have 
in the sixth of the Books of Chow, of the duke of Chow’s 
praying for the recovery of his brother, king Woo, from 


- 36 . ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


a dangerous illness, and offering to die in his stead, he 
raises. three altars—to their father, grandfather, and 
great-grandfather ; and prays to them, as having in 
heaven the charge of watching over their great descend- 
ant. When he has ascertained by divination that the 
king would recover, he declares that he had got Woo’s 
tenure of the throne renewed by the three kings, who 
had thus consulted for a long futurity of their house. 

This case shows us that the spirits of good kings were 
believed to be in heaven. A more general conclusion 
is derived from what we read in the seventh of the books 
of Shang. The emperor Pwan-Kiang, (B.c. 1400) irri- 
tated by the opposition of the wealthy and powerful 
houses to his measures, and their stirring up the people 
-also to murmur against them, threatens them all with 
calamities to be sent down by his high ancestor T’ang, 
the successful. He tells his ministers that their ances- 
tors and fathers, who had loyally served his predeces- 
sors, were now urgently entreating T’ang, in his spirit- 
state in heaven, to execute great punishments on their 
descendants. Not only, therefore, did good sovereigns 
continue to have a happy existence in heaven, but their 
good ministers shared the happiness with them, and 
-were somehow round about them as they had been on 
earth, and took an interest in the progress of the con- 
cerns which had occupied them during their lifetime. 
Modern scholars, following in the wake of Confucius, to 
whom the future state of the departed was all wrapped in 
shadows, clouds, and darkness, say that the people of 
the Shang dynasty were very superstitious. My object 
is to bring out the fact, and the nature of their supersti- 
tion. 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 37 


There is no hint in the Shoo nor elsewhere, so far as 
I am aware, of what became of bad emperors and bad 
ministers after death nor indeed of the future fate of 
men generally. There is a heaven in the classical books 
of the Chinese; but there is no hell ; and no purgatory. 
Their oracles are silent as to any doctrine of future 
rewards and punishments. Their exhortations to well- 
doing, and their warnings against evil, are all based on 
a reference to the will of God, and the certainty that in 
this life virtue will be rewarded and vice punished. “Of 
the five happinesses, the first is long life ; the second is 
riches ; the third is soundness of body and serenity of 
mind ; the fourth is the love of virtue ; and the fifth is 
doing or receiving to the end the will of heaven.” There 
is no promise of rest or comfort beyond the grave. The 
virtuous man may live and die in suffering and disgrace ; 
let him be cheered—his posterity will reap the reward 
of his merits. Some one, sprung from his loins, will be- 
come wealthy or attain to distinction. But if he should 
have no posterity—it never occurred to any of the an- 
cient sages to consider such a case. 

I will pass on from this paragraph with a reference to 
the subject of divination. Although the-ancient Chi- 
nese can hardly be said to have had the knowledge of a 
future state, and were not: curious to inquire about it, 
they were anxious to know about the wisdom and issues 
of their plans for the present life. For this purpose 
they had recourse to divination. ‘The duke of Chow cer- 
tainly practiced it ; and we have a regular staff of diviners 
among the officers of the Chow dynasty. Pwan-Kang 
practiced it in the dynasty of Shang. And Shun did so 
_also, if we can put faith in “The Counsels of Yu.” The 


38° ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


instruments of divination were the shell of the tortoise 
and the stalks of a certain grass or reed. By various 
caustic operations on the former, and by manipulations 
with the latter, it was supposed possible to ascertain the 
will of heaven. I must refer the reader to what I have 
said about the practice on the seventh section of “ The 
Great Plan.” It is difficult to understand how the really 
great men of China could have believed in it. One ob- 
servation ascribed to Shun is worthy of remark. He 
tells Yu that “divination, when fortunate, must not be 
repeated.” I once saw a father and son divining, after 
one of the fashions of the present day. ‘They tossed the 
bamboo roots, which came down in the unlucky position 
for a dozen times in succession. At last a lucky cast 
was made. They looked into each other’s faces, laughed 
heartily, and rose up, delighted, from their knees. The 
divination was now successful, and they dared not re- 
peat it! 

When the dignity of a chief advanced to that of a sov- 
ereign, and the Chinese tribe grew into a nation, the form 
which it assumed was that of a feudal empire. It was 
probably not until the Chow dynasty that its constitution 
was fully developed and consolidated, as it is only then 
that we find in the last part of the Shoo, in the Ch’un 
Ts’ew, the Rites of Chow, and other works of the period, 
materials to give a description to it. King Woo, we are 
told, after he had overthrown the last sovereign of the 
line of T’ang, arranged the orders of nobility into five, 
from duke downwards, and assigned the territories to 
them ona scale proportioned to their different ranks. 
But at the beginning of the Hea dynasty, Yu conferred 
on the chiefs among his followers lands and surnames. 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CIIINA. ee: 


The feudal system grew in a great measure out of the 
necessities of the infant empire. As the rude tribes 
were pushed backwards from its growing limits, they 
would the more fiercely endeavor to resist further en- 
croachment. The measure was sometimes taken of re- 
moving them to other distant sites, according to the 
policy on which the Kings of Assyria and Babylon dealt 
with Israel and Judah. So Shun is reported to have 
carried away the San-méaun. But the Chinese empire 
was too young, and insufficiently established itself, to 
pursue this plan generally ; and each State therefore was 
formed with a military constitution of its own, to defend 
the marches against the irruptions of the barbarians. 

What was designed to be the Central State of the 
empire was the appanage of the sovereign himself, and 
was of. the same dimensions as one of the largest of the 
feudatory States. Over this he ruled like one of the 
other princes in their several dominions, and he received 
likewise a certain amount of revenue from all the rest of 
the country, while the nobles were bound to do him mili- 
tary service whenever called upon. He maintained also 
a court of great ministers, who superintended the gov- 
ernment of the whole empire. ‘The princes were little 
kings within their own States, and had the power of life 
and death over the people. They practiced the system 
of sub-infeudation, but their assignments of lands were 
required to have the imperial sanction. 

It was the rule under the Chow dynasty that the 
princes should repair to the court every five years, to 
cive an account of their administration of their govern- 
ments ; and that the emperor should make a general 
tour through the country every twelve years, to see for 


40 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


himself how they performed their duties. We read in 
the Canon of Shun that he made a tour of inspection 
once in five years, and that the princes appeared at court 
during the intermediate four. As the empire enlarged, 
the imperial progresses would naturally become less fre- 
quent. By this arrangement it was endeavored to main- 
tain a uniformity of administration and customs through- 
out the States. ‘The various ceremonies to be observed 
in marriages, funerals and mourning, hospitalities, re- 
ligious worship, and the conduct of hostilities ; the meas- 
ure of capacity, length, weight, etc ; and the written char- 
acters of the language ; these were all determined in im- 
perial prerogative. ‘To innovate in them was a capital 
offense. 

The above is an imperfect outline of the feudal con- 
stitution of the ancient empire of China, which was far 
from enjoying peace and prosperity under it. According 
to the received accounts, the three dynasties of Hea, 
Shang, and Chow were established, one after another, 
by princes of great virtue and force of character, aided 
in each case by a minister of consummate ability and 
loyal devotion. Their successors invariably became 
feeble and worthless. After a few reigns, the imperial 
rule slackened. ‘Throughout the States there came as- 
sumptions and oppressions, each prince doing what was 
right in his own eyes, without fear of his suzerain, The 
wild tribes round about waxed bold, and kept up a con- 
stant excitement and terror by their incursions. Then 
would come an exceptional reign of more than usual 
vigor, and a partial order would be established ; but the 
brief prosperity was only like a blink of sunshine in a 
day of gloom. In the Shoo, the termination of the dy- 


ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 4! 


nasties of Hea and Shang is attributed to the wickedness 
of their last emperors. After a long array of feeble 
princes there suddenly appear on the throne men of gi- 
gantic physical strength, the most daring insolence, and 
the wildest debaucheries, having neither piety nor truth ; 
and in contrast with them are princes whose fathers have 
for several generations been attracting general notice by 
their righteousness and benevolence. When heaven and 
men can no longer bear the iniquity of the tyrants, the 
standard of revolt is raised, and the empire speedily 
comes under a new rule. These accounts are no doubt 
much exaggerated and embellished. Kéé and Show 
were not such monsters of vice, nor were T’ang and Woo 
such prodigies of virtue. More likely is it that the 
earlier dynasties died out, like that of Chow, from sheer 
exhaustion, and that their last sovereigns were weaklings 
like king Nau, rather than tyrants. 

The practice of polygamy, which was as old as Yaou, 
was a constant source of disorder. A favorite concubine 
plays a conspicuous part in the downfall of the dynasties 
of Shang and Hea, and another signalizes a calamitous 
epoch in that of Chow. In the various States this 
system was ever giving rise to jealousies, factions, usurp- 
ations, and abominations which cannot be told. Nona- 
tion where polygamy exists can long be prosperous or 
powerful. In a feudal empire its operation must be 
- peculiarly disastrous. 

The teachings of Confucius in the Chow dynasty 
could not arrest the progress of degeneracy and disso- 
lution in a single State. His inculcation of the relations 
of society, and the duties belonging to them, had no 
power. His eulogies of the ancient sages were only the 


42 ANCIENT HISTORY OF CHINA. 


lighting up in the political firmament of so many suns 
which communicated no heat. ‘Things waxed worse and 
worse. ‘The pictures which Mencius draws of the misery 
of his times are frightful. What he auspiced from the 
doctrines and labors of his master never came to pass. 
The ancient feudal empire was extinguished amid uni- 
versal anarchy, in seas of blood. 

The character and achievements of the founder of the 
Ts’in dynasty have not yet received from historians the 
attention which they deserve. He destroyed the feudal | 
system of China, and introduced in its room the modern 
despotic empire, which has now lasted rather more than 
2,000 years. 

The ancient empire of China passed away, having 
been weighed in the balances and found wanting. Un- 
der the system of rule which superseded it, the bound- 
aries of the empire have been grandly extended, and the 
people have gradually increased. Now, however, it would 
seem to be likewise approaching its end. It would not 
have endured so long but for the position of the country 
at the extremity of the Asiatic continent. Its neighbors 
were not more powerful than itself, and they were less 
civilized. Once and again the country has been overrun 
and subjugated by the descendants of the tribes which 
disputed the possession of the soil with its earliest colo- 
_ nists; but it has subdued them in its turn by its greater 
cultivation, and they have become more Chinese than 
the Chinese themselves. The changes of dynasty since 
the end of the old empire, or classical period, have not 
been revolutions, but only substitutions of one set of 
rulers for another. In the present century, new rela- 
tions have arisen between China and the rest of the 


ANCILNT IISTORY OF CIIINA. 43 


world. Christian nations of the West have come into 
rude contact with it. In vain did it fall back on the 
tradition of the ‘Middle State,” and proclaim its right 
to their homage. ‘The prestige of its greatness has van- 
ished before a few ships of war, and the presence of a 
few thousand soldiers. ‘The despotic empire will shortly 
pass away as the feudal one did, but with less “hideous 
ruin and combustion.” It is needless to sneculate on 
the probabilities of the future. God will be his own in- 
terpreter. China, separated from the rest of the world, 
and without the light of revelation, has played its part, 
and brought forth its lesson, which will not, I trust, be 
long without their fitting exposition. Whether it is to 
be a dependent or independent nation in the future, to 
be broken up, or remain united, the first condition to 
happiness and prosperity is Awmzity on the part of its 
scholars and rulers. ‘Till they are brought to look at 
their own history and their sages, falsely so called, ac- 
cording to a true estimate, and to cease from their blind 
admiration of them, there is no hope for the country. 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 





Confucius, as a sage and religious teacher, is regarded 
by his countrymen as the greatest man China has pro- 
duced. He was unquestionably an extraordinary man, 
remarkable in the influence he exercised over his coun- 
trymen when alive, and the still greater influence he has 
ever since exercised by his writings. Confucius was 
born about five hundred and forty-nine years before 
Christ, in the Kingdom of Loo, a portion of north- 
eastern China, nearly corresponding with the modern 
province of Shan-tung. At that time China was divided 
into nine independent States, and it was not till three cen- 
turies later that it was united into one kingdom. From 
his earliest years, Confucius was distinguished by an 
eager pursuit of knowledge. From his father, who was 
prime minister of the State in which he lived, he inher- 
ited a taste for political studies ; but being left an orphan 
when still but a child, he was educated for the most 
part in retirement by his mother Ching and his grand- 
father Coum-tse. The anecdotes which are related 
of his boyhood tend to show that he was distinguished 
by those qualities most highly esteemed by his coun- 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 45 


trymen, and afterwards most strictly enforced by himself 
—a profound reverence for his parents and ancestors, 
and for the teaching of the ancient sages. “Coum-tse, 
his grandfather,” says one of his biographers, “was one 
day sitting absorbed in a melancholy reverie, in the 
course of which he fetched several deep sighs. The 
child observing him, after some time approached, and 
with many bows and formal reverences, spoke thus: 
‘If I may presume, without violating the respect I 
owe you, sir, to inquire into the cause of your grief, 
I would gladly do so. Perhaps you fear that I who am 
descended from you may reflect discredit on your mem- 
ory by failing to imitate your virtues.’ His grandfather, 
surprised, asked him where he had learned to speak so 
wisely. ‘From yourself, sir,’ he replied ; ‘I listen atten- 
tively to your words, and I have often heard you say 
that a son who does not imitate the virtues of his ances- 
tors deserves not to bear their name.’” 

The position which his father had held in the State 
seems to have inspired Confucius at an early age with a 
desire to distinguish himself in moral and political stud- 
ies, and prompted him to investigate the early history of 
his country. He labored zealously to fit himself for fill- 
ing offices of high political trust; and in his endeavors 
to maser the learning of the early sages he was ably 
assisted by his grandfather. He married at nineteen 
years of age, and is said to have divorced his wife a few 
years afterwards, when she had given birth to a son, that 
he might devote himself without interruption to study; 
but owing to the general contempt of women in the 
East, the subject is only slightly alluded to by his biog- 
raphers. 


49 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS, 


He entered upon political employment at twenty years 
of age, as “superintendent of cattle,” an office probably 
established that the revenue might not be defrauded, and 
necessary where much of it was paid in kind. In this 
situation, his reverence for antiquity and the ancients did 
not prevent Confucius from attempting reforms and check- 
ing long-established abuses. Under his administration, 
men who were dishonest were dismissed, and a general 
inquiry was set on foot with a view to the reformation of 
all that was unworthy or pernicious. The activity of 
Confucius brought him into favor with his sovereign, and 
he was promoted to the “distribution of grain,” an office 
of which it is not easy to discover the nature. Whatever 
were his duties, however, the energy that Confucius dis- 
played was extremely distasteful to his colleagues. He 
was now in the vigorous manhood of thirty-five, and the 
eyes of the nation were turned to him as their future 
prime minister, when a revolution occurred in the State, 
which drove him from power. 

Deprived of his office, he wandered for eight years 
through the various provinces of China, teaching as he 
went, but without as yet making any great impression 
upon the mass of the people. He returned to Loo in his 
forty-third year. His enemies, during those eight years, 
had gradually lost their authority ; and he was again em- 
ployed in political offices of trust and responsibility. Im- 
morality prevailed at this time to a frightful extent. Con- 
fucius set himself up fearlessly as a teacher of virtue. 
His admonitions were not thrown away; and having 
gained the approbation of the *king a few years after his 
return from exile, he was appointed prime minister with 
almost absolute authority. ‘The enemies of order and 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 47 


virtue excited troubles on his elevation ; but Confucius 
sternly repressed the symptoms of dissatisfaction, and 
though of compassionate disposition, he did not hesitate 
to resort to capital punishment when necessary to rid 
himself of his enemies. 

Reformation made rapid strides in the territories of 
Loo ; the nobles became more just and equitable ; the 
poor were not oppressed as before ; roads, bridges, and 
canals were formed. “The food of the people,” says his 
biographer, “ was the first care ; it was not until that had 
been secured in abundance that the revenues of the State 
were directed to the advancement of commerce, the im- 
provement of the bridges and highways, the impartial 
administration of justice, and the repression of the 
bands of robbers that infested the mountains.” For four 
years he steadily persevered in his endeavors, until Loo 
began to be regarded as a model State by the surround- 
ing kingdoms. It was not the interest of the neighbor- 
ing princes to permit this state of things to continue. 
One of them, more crafty than the others, knowing the 
weakness of the sovereign of Loo, trained some fascinat- 
ing courtezans after his own views, and sent them as a 
present to the voluptuous prince. ‘They were greedily 
received, for the king had long tired of Confucius and 
his stern morality. The courtezans roused him and his 
nobility to action. A strong party rose against the sage; 
and at the age of fifty-seven, he was driven once more 
from his native State to wander as a teacher through the 
different provinces of China. 

- On leaving Loo, Confucius first bent his steps west- 
ward to the State of Wei, situate about where the pres- 
ent provinces of Chih-le and Ho-nan adjoin. He was 


48 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 


now in his fifty-sixth year, and felt depressed and mel- 
ancholy. As he went along, he gave expression to his 
feelings in verse : 


* Fain would I still look towards Loo, 
But this Kwei hill cuts off my view. 
With an axe, I’d hew these thickets through :— 
Vain thought! ’gainst the hill I naught can do.” 


And again: 


‘Through the valley howls the blast, 
Drizzling rain falls thick and fast. 
Homeward goes the youthful bride 
O’er the wild, crowds by her side. 
How is it, O azure Heaven, 

From my home I thus am driven, 
Through the land my way to trace, 
With no certain dwelling place ? 
Dark, dark, the minds of men! 
Worth in vain comes to their ken. 
Hasten on, my term of years: 
Old age, desolate, disappears.” 


It was only by concealment and disguise that the life 
of the exiled prime minister was preserved. For twelve 
years he wandered from province to province, at first 
harassed, persecuted, hunted, but after a while allowed 
to travel unmolested. A faithful little band of disciples 
collected around him in his wanderings, and their num- 
bers, as time advanced, might soon be counted by thous- 
ands. Seventy-two of these, we are told, were particu- 
larly attached to him, but only ten of them were “ truly 
wise.” With these ten he finally retired, at the age of 
sixty-nine, to a peaceful valley in his native province, 
where, in the midst of his disciples, he passed a happy 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 49 


literary period of five years, in collating and annotating 
the works of the ancients. These sacred books have 
been for twenty-three centuries the fountains of wisdom 
and goodness to all the educated of China. They are 
the works in which every student must be a proficient 
ere he can hope to advance in the political arena, and for 
twenty-three centuries have had an incalculable influence 
on a third of the human race. 

His life was peacefully concluded in the midst of his 
friends at the age of seventy-three, in the valley to which 
he had. retired five years previously. 

A few days before his death he tottered about the house, 
sighing out: 


Tai shan, kt tui hul 
Liang muh, kt kwai hu! 
Chi jin, ki wet hu! 


The great mountain is broken! 
The strong beam is thrown down! 
The wise man has decayed } 


He died soon after, leaving a single descendant, his 
grandson Tsz’sz’, through whom the succession has been 
transmitted to the present day. During his life, the re- 
turn of the Jews from Babylon, the invasion of Greece 
by Xerxes, and conquest of Egypt by the Persians, took 
place. Posthumous honors in great variety, amounting 
to idolatrous worship, have been conferred upon him. 
His title is the most Holy Ancient Teacher Kung-tsz’, 
and the Holy Duke. In the reign of Kanghi, 2150 years 
after his death, there were eleven thousand males alive 
bearing his name, and most of them of the seventy-fourth 
generation, being undoubtedly one of the oldest families 


3 


50 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 


in the world. In the Sacrificial Ritual a short account 
of his life is given, which closes with the following peean: 


Confucius ! Confucius ! How great is Confucius ! 
Before Confucius there never was a Confucius! 
Since Confucius there never has been a Confucius ! 
Confucius ! Confucius ! How great is Confucius { 


That peaceful valley in which he died has been for all 
succeeding ages a sacred spot—a place of pilgrimage for 
the learned and the superstitious ; and the Chinese of 
1867, amid conflicting Buddhism, Tauism, and Roman 
Catholicism, still point with reverence to the tomb of 
their great sage in the province of Shan-tung. 

In his manner of teaching, Confucius was strikingly 
contrasted with the other great religious teachers of 
Asia—Gotama, Buddha, Zoroaster, and Mohammed. He 
made no pretensions to universal knowledge or external 
inspiration. “I was not born,” said he to his disciples, 
“endowed with all knowledge. JI am merely a man who 
loves the ancients, and who do all I can to arrive at 
truth.” On particular points of religious and other 
knowledge he was equally frank in his confessions of ig- 
norance. Having been asked, for instance, by his disci- 
ples, how superior spirits might be acceptably worshiped, 
he candidly answered that he did not know. On another 
occasion, when asked what death was, he gave the mem- 
orable answer: “When I know not the nature of life, how 
shall I inform you what death is? ” 

In his precepts, as his disciples have handed them 
down to us, there is nothing austere or repulsive ; no 
attempt whatever made to bind down the minds of his 
followers to any rigidly ascetic rule of his own. On the 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 51 


- contrary, he desired them to be open to every enlivening 
and ennobling idea, to practice singing and music, to 
cultivate and reverence the sublime, to open their hearts 
to the influence of joy—in short, by every means con- 
sistent with virtue, to render their existence happy. 

Simple and natural as he was, however, in his manner 
of life and method of teaching, he himself informs us, in 
a saying recorded by one of his disciples, that he was 
not understood by his age. 

The leading features of the philosophy of Confucius 
are, subordination to superiors, and kind, upright deal- 
ing with our fellow men ; destitute of all reference to an 
‘unseen power to whom all men are accountable, they 
look only to this world for their sanctions, and make the 
monarch himself only partially amenable to a higher tri- 
bunal. From the duty, honor and obedience owed by a 
child to his parents, he proceeds to inculcate the obliga- 
tions of wives to their husbands, subjects to their prince, 
and ministers to their king, together with all the obliga- 
tions arising from the various social relations. Political 
morality must be founded on private rectitude, and the 
beginning of all real advance, in his opinion, was com- 
prised in nosce teipsum. It cannot be denied that among 
much that is commendable, there are a few exceptionable 
dogmas among his tenets; but compared with the pre- 
cepts of Grecian and Roman sages, the general tendency 
of his writings is good, while in their general adaptation 
to the society in which he lived, and their eminently 
practical character, they exceed those of Western philos- 
ophers. He did not deal much in sublime and unattain- 
able descriptions of virtue; but rather taught how the 
common intercourse of life was to be maintained, how 


52 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 


children should conduct themselves towards their pa- 
rents, when a man should enter an office, when to marry, 
etc., which, although they may seem somewhat trifling to 
us, were probably well calculated for the times and peo- 
ple among whom he lived. 

The variety and minuteness of his instructions for the 
nurture and education of children, the stress he lays upon 
filial duty, the detail of etiquette and conduct he gives for 
the intercourse of all classes and ranks in-society, char- 
acterize his writings from those of all philosophers in 
other countries ; who, comparatively speaking, gave small 
thought to the education of the young. A notable feature 
of the Chinese classics, as compared with the classical 
writings of Grecian and Roman genius, must not be over- 
looked ; which is, their freedom from descriptions of 
impurity and licentiousness, and allusions to whatever 
debases and vitiates the heart. Chinese literature con- 
tains enough, indeed, to pollute even the mind of a 
heathen, but its scum has become the sediment; and 
little or nothing can be found in the writings which are 
most highly prized, which will not bear perusal by any 
person in any country. Every one in the least acquainted 
with the writings of Hindu, Greek, and Roman poets, 
knows the glowing descriptions of the amours and ob- 
scenities of gods and goddesses which fill their pages, 
and the purity of the Chinese canonical books in this 
respect must be considered as remarkable. 

In his instructions, he improved passing events to _ 
afford useful lessons, and some of those recorded are at 
least ingenious. Observing a fowler one day sorting his 
birds into different cages, he said, “I do not see any old 
birds here ; where have you put them?” “ The old birds,” 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 53 


replied the fowler, “are too wary to be caught ; they are 
on the lookout, and if they see a net or cage, far from 
falling into the snare, they escape and never return. 
Those young ones which are in company with them like- 
wise escape, but only such as separate into a flock by 
themselves and rashly approach are the birds I take. If 
perchance I catch an old bird, it is because he follows 
the young ones.” “You have heard him,” observed the 
sage, turning to his disciples ; “the words of this fowler 
afford us matter for instruction. The young birds escape 
the snare only when they keep with the old ones, the old 
ones are taken when they follow the young: it is thus 
with mankind. Presumption, hardihood, want of fore- 
thought and inattention, are the principal reasons why 
young people are led astray. Inflated with their small 
attainments, they have scarcely made a commencement 
in learning before they think they know everything ; 
they have scarcely performed a few common virtuous 
acts, and straight they fancy themselves at the height of 
wisdom. Under this false impression, they doubt noth- 
ing, hesitate at nothing, pay attention to nothing; they 
rashly undertake acts without consulting the aged and 
experienced, and thus securely following their own no- 
tions, they are misled and fall into the first snare laid 
for them. If you see an old man of sober years so badly 
advised as to be taken with the sprightliness of a youth, 
attached to him, and thinking and acting with him, he is 
led astray by him, and soon taken in the same snare. 
Do not forget the answer of the fowler.” 

Once, when looking at a stream, he compared its cease- 
less current to the transmission of good doctrine through 
succeeding generations ; and as one race had received it, 


54 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 


they should hand it down to others. “ Do not imitate those 
isolated men (the Rationalists) who are wise only for 
themselves : to communicate the modicum of knowledge 
and virtue we possess to others, will never impoverish 
ourselves.” 

The literary labors of Confucius consisted, for the most 
part, of a revision of the sacred books, which had been 
from time immemorial regarded by the Chinese as the 
sources of all true wisdom and knowledge. ‘These he 
pruned of many extravagancies ; and in the text as well 
as in the notes, stated his own opinions, and added much 
to the original value of the works. 

Of the Chinese Sacred Books thus edited there are 
two classes, viz: The Five Cuassics, and the Four 
Books. 

The first class consists of— 

1st. The Shoo King, the Book of Records. It contains 
a plain historical narrative of the events which occurred 
during the first dynasties of the Chinese kings. It abounds 
in moral reflections, and appropriate instructions as to the 
pursuit and practice of virtue. 

2d. ‘Fhe Yik-King, the Book of Changes. The trigrams, 
or enigmatical lines of Fuk Hi, form the basis of this 
work. This Fuk Hi is claimed to be the founder of the 
Chinese monarchy, and the date of his reign is, by Chi- 
nesc historians, thrown back 2750 years before the Chris- 
tian era. 

Fuk Hi is reported to have first discovered these trig- 
rams on the back of a tortoise or turtle which appeared 
to him once while walking on the banks of the river Ho- 
ang Ho. ‘These trigrams are three lines ; two of them 
being broken, by different combinations, sixty-four varia- 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 55 


tions are formed from them. Other authorities state that 
at first there were’ eight lines, then these were involved 
to sixty-four. 

3d. The Shi King, the Book of Odes. The number of 
these odes is three hundred and eleven; some selected, 
and others composed by Confucius, and all of a patriotic 
and moral character. 

“These verses,” said Confucius, “are as a speculum, 
offering to us the contemplation of good and evil: they 
teach us to serve our parents at home, and our king 
abroad.” 

Respecting the Book of Odes, Confucius said: “ My 
children, why do you not study the Book of Poetry? 
The odes serve to stimulate the mind. They may be 
used for purposes of self-contemplation. ‘They teach 
the art of sociability. “They show how to regulate feel- 
ings of resentment. From them you learn the more im- 
mediate duty of serving one’s father, and the remoter one - 
of serving one’s prince. From them we become largely 
acquainted with the names of birds, beasts, and plants.” 

4th. The Lai Ki, the Book of Ceremonies. It is a 
collection by Confucius of the various customs inculcated 
by former sages. In it all the minutia of daily life are 
dwelt upon, and the proper mode of action is prescribed 
under almost all possible contingencies. It gives direc- 
tions for all actions of life, forming a code of etiquette 
upon the polite behavior of men, their sitting, standing, 
eating, sleeping, talking, weeping, walking, etc., in all cir- 
cumstances and for all periods of life. As has been re- 
marked, “One has but to read it in order to understand 
the fixedness and immobility of Chinese customs ;” for 
. the ceremonies and etiquette in Chinese society of the 


56 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 


present day are in most cases what they were when this 
Book of Rites was first published. 

5th. The Chun Tz’au, the Spring and Autumn An- 
nals. The work was so called, because it was commenced 
in the Spring and finished in the Autumn. It was the 
work of Confucius’ extreme old age, and contains partic- 
ularly a history of his native State, Loo, for two hundred 
years. It contains a fuller account of the political sys- 
tem he inculcated than any of the other sacred books. 

The Four Books consist of— | 

1st. The Lun Yu, a collection of Confucius’ Sayings, 
by his disciples. 

2d. The Tai Hok, a Treatise showing how to make 
the thoughts sincere, to correct the heart, to regulate the 
family, to govern the State, and thus produce concord 
throughout the world. 

3d. The Chung Yung, the Doctrine of the Mean. 

4th. A’work bearing the name of Mencius, who here 
attempted to gather and perpetuate the doctrines of the 
sage ; it is a philosophical treatise on government and 
morals. 

Add to these a volume called The Ka Yu, the Family 
Sayings of the sage; being remarks dropped by him 
while in the midst of his family and amongst his neigh- 
bors. 

The physical system inculcated by the Chinese philos- 
opher somewhat resembled that of the early Grecian 
sages, and was undoubtedly in advance of the opinions 
of the age. ‘The five zug or elements stand at its base 
—water, fire, wood, metals, and earth. Of these, says 
the Chou-King, water flows, and is ever in motion ; fire 
burns and ascends ; wood is crooked and straightens it- 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 57 


self; the metals are earthy and susceptible of change ; 
the earth is humid, and descends. Each of these so- 
called elements is symbolized by one or more mystical 
lines placed in various positions. The universe, accord- 
ing to this fanciful theory, has been generated by the 
union of two material. principles—a heavenly and an 
earthly, Yang and Yin. ‘The heaven and the earth rep- 
resent the corporeal substance of these principles ; their 
intellectual manifestations pervade all things. In conse- 
quence of its origin and nature, the universe is destined 
to be destroyed and reproduced constantly, after count- 
less ages, in never-ending successions. The proper office 
of the material and heavenly Yang is to produce, to make 
strong and to sustain. Its nature is firmness, inflexibil- 
ity, and perseverance. What rises, what appears, what 
produces or contains motion, exists from it. The nature 
of Yin is to give place to, to fall to decay, to be weak, 
opaque, slow, inert, (save when receiving vigor and mo- 
tion from Vang) to obey and be obsequious. 

The heavens and the earth being thus mystically united 
as Yang and Yin, the origin of man appears to be inti- 
mately connected with their union. “The heaven and 
the earth,” says the Yik-King, “had a beginning ; and if 
that can be said of them, how much more truly of man ?” 
“ After there was a heaven and an earth, all material 
things were formed ; male and female appeared ; man and 
woman.” We seek, however, in vain for a Creator in 
the system. ‘True, there is Tai Kik, the Primum Mo- 
bile, and a mysterious “heaven,” whose existence is de- 
clared to have been prior to all other existences, and par- 
ticularly to the material developments of Yang and Yin; 


but although this mysterious agency has many of the 
a* 


58 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 


characteristics of the Godhead, he or it is not repre- 
sented as creating. 

The Chinese have this formula : 

Tai Kik, the Great Ultimate Principle, produced 
Leang E, the Dual Principles. 

Leang E produced Sz Tseung, the Four Forms. ‘Two 
forms are heaven and earth; three forms are heaven, 
earth, and man ; four forms are the four i ised points 
of the compass. 

Sz Tseung produced Pat Kwa, the Eight Diagrams. 

Pat Kwa settled and fixed the Kin Kwan, heaven and 
earth. 

The system of Confucius teaches that all men are born 
pure, but by the influence of bad example they swerve 
from the path of rectitude. He furthermore inculcates 
that man by his own act, by constant effort and watch- 
fulness, may recover his lost estate ; and yet he repeat- 
edly asserts that he has not found an example of a per- 
fect man, and confesses his own delinquencies. 

One of the objects of his small treatise, entitled Zaz 
fTok, is expressly declared to be “to bring back fallen 
man to the sovereign good—to what is perfect.” “ All. 
people are naturally good,” he asserts, “ but a desire of 
pleasure changes them.” With an earnest wish to de- 
velop “the inward light,” pure and sincere intentions, 
fixed determination, a calm spirit, and much meditation, 
the Chinese teacher believed it quite possible for man to 
attain to this “sovereign good.” Virtue, he divides into 
two great parts: jirst, the reverence for Heaven and su- 
perior beings, for parents and those in authority, with 
the worship due to the former class ; and secondly, that 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 59 


justice or equity which consists in rendering to every one 
his due. 

The tutelary spirits, to whom Confucius teaches that 
worship is due, are divided into two classes: the spirits 
of mountains, rivers, and other natural objects, and the 
disembodied spirits of our ancestors, to both of which pro- 
pitiatory sacrifices are due. “ There is a Chinese book,” 
says M. de Guignes, “ compiled from the writings of Con- 
fucius, which gives figures of the two orders of spirits, in- 
forms us where they reside, and the particular object for 
which they should be invoked.” The duty of filial obe- 
dience and reverence is inculcated by the Chinese sage 
with an earnestness unknown in any other system. In- 
deed, his entire political system is based solely on this 
foundation. Of all crimes, filial disobedience is the great- 
est, and least expiable. Even truth may be sacrificed by 
the son to hide the faults of the father. 

In his political system the sovereign stands in a purely 
paternal relation to his subjects, and revolt or disobe- 
dience is under any circumstance a crime. He enume- 
rates clearly and distinctly the duties both of the sov- 
ereign and of the people ; but if the sovereign chooses 
to be a tyrant, his lieges, so far as Confucius teaches, 
have no redress. 

Of the extraordinary estimation in which Ccateins 
has been always held by his countrymen, we scarcely re- 
quire any proofs. Although he was allowed to end his 
days in comparative obscurity, his descendants have ever 
since enjoyed, during seventy generations, the highest 
honors and privileges. They are, indeed, the only 
hereditary nobility in the empire. They are found prin- 
cipally in the neighborhood of the district in which Con- 


60 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 


fucius lived ; and it was computed, more than one hundred 
and fifty years ago, that they numbered 11,000 males. 
Through every revolution in Chinese history their priv- 
ileges and honors have hitherto remained intact. 

In every city of the empire, of the first, second, and 
third class, there is one temple at least dedicated to Con- 
fucius. ‘The civil and political rulers—nay, the emperor 
himself—are all equally bound to worship there. The 
service appointed for this worship is similar to that which 
each family performs in honor of its ancestors in their 
“hall of the ancients.” A plain tablet is erected above 
an altar, on which there is a suitable inscription. Sweet- 
smelling gums are burned in the chamber, with frankin- 
cense and tapers of sandal wood ; fruit, wine, and flow- 
ers are placed upon the altar, and appropriate verses 
are chanted. from the Shi King in praise of deceased 
worth and wisdom. The ceremony concludes with an 
address resembling a prayer, delivered by the highest 
dignitary present. 

In the larger temples of Confucius there usually are 
no images, but the sage and his disciples are worshiped 
through the medium of their tablets, which are strips of 
painted board standing upright, with the name and titles 
of the individual carved upon the face. 

The tablets are arranged in the following order : 

ist. In the center of the main hall, and facing the 
court, is the tablet of Confucius. 

2d. Four tablets, two at’ the right and two at the left 
of that of the sage, and facing inwards. These are the 
four most illustrious disciples. 

3d. Farther in front are ten tablets, five on either side, 


LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 61 


and facing inwards. These ten are for the disciples 
next in order for merit. 

4th. Arranged on either side of a long room stretching 
down in front of the hall, are tablets of the remaining 
fifty-eight disciples, twenty-nine on either side. 

Before each tablet is a stand for candles, incense, and 
offerings. 

The sage is worshiped especially by literary men. 
Boys on entering school are first taken to the Confucian 
temple to adore the world’s most illustrious scholar and 
holy man, and to invoke him as a patron. 

The remarks of Confucius upon religious subjects 
were very few; he never taught the duty of man to any 
-higher power than the head of the State or family, though 
he supposed himself commissioned by heaven to restore 
the doctrines and usages of the ancient kings. He ad- 
mitted that he did not understand much about the gods, 
‘that they were beyond and above the comprehension of 
man, and that the obligations of man lay rather in doing 
his duty to his relatives and society than in worshiping 
spirits unknown. “Not knowing even life,” said he, 
“how can we know death?” and when. his disciples 
asked him, in his last illness, whom he should sacrifice 
to, he said he had already worshiped. 

Wise and learned as was Confucius, and with all his 
abstruse discussions about the Tai Kik, the Yin and 
the Yang, and the Chung Yung, he knew less about the 
world he lived in than the-merest child who has learned 
that “In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth ;’? and as to what might lie beyond the present 
life, all was unknown. 

He instructed kings, but his teachings lacked that ele- 


62 LIFE OF CONFUCIUS. 


ment which once caused a Roman governor to tremble 
when the great apostle to the Gentiles, though a prisoner 
in chains, reasoned before him concerning those subjects 
which constituted the distinctive doctrine of his faith. 

As there were points of difference between the doc- 
trines taught by the so-called holy man of Loo and the 
orator who once held enchained by his eloquence the 
learned men of Athens, so was there as marked a dif- 
ference in the closing scenes of the lives of each. 

One laments over 


“The strong mountain broken, 
The wise man decayed.” 


The other exults in the clear vision of that world into 
which he expected to enter when this “mortal should 
have put on immortality.” 

That the reader may see how the disciples of Confu- 
cius were accustomed to speak of the sage whom they 
styled “Master,” as well as the manner in which he 
spake of himself, we have grouped together what we 
found in the Analects on these subjects, and have placed 
them first in our selections from the Four Books, that 
they may be read in connection with the life of Confu- 
cius. ‘They are: 

1st. Remarks by his disciples on his character, doc- 
trines, and habits. 

2d. What Confucius said of himself. 

3d. An Eulogium, in which.is recorded by admiring 
disciples everything that-might help to keep the memory 
of the master fresh in their minds. 


THE FOUR BOOKS. 





INTRODUCTION. 


THESE are sometimes called the Four Books of the Four 
Philosophers. They comprise: 1st, the Lun Yu, or An- 
alects, chiefly occupied with the sayings of Confucius ; 
2d, the Tai Hok, (or Tai Hedk) the Great Learning, 
now commonly attributed to Tsing Sin, a disciple of the 
sage ; 3d, the Chung Yung, or Doctrine of the Mean, 
ascribed to Kung Keih, the grandson of Confucius ; 4th, 
the works of Mencius. But all these disciples of Con- 
fucius delight to honor their master, and credit him largely 
with the sayings which they have recorded. | 

A peculiarity of all these teachers is, that they did not 
generally lay claim to the honor of ,originality in the 
lessons they gave: they profess rather that what they 
taught were the doctrines of their wise princes and divine 
emperors of the primitive ages ; they enforce their coun- 
sels by citing the examples of wisdom and virtue of the 
early times. Mencius, as the reader will see at the close 
of his book, tells from whom his doctrines were derived, 
and through how long a term of years they had de- 


64 INTRODUCTION. 


scended till they came to him. Confucius, Mencius, 
and perhaps some of their disciples, were peripatetic 
philosophers. That system of lectures, or traveling 
teachers, has been, in some respects, adopted in our 
country during recent years. Throughout China, at the 
present time, there are professional readers, who go 
about from place to place ; and wherever an audience 
can be gathered, they- read or chant portions of the an- 
cient histories or of the odes. They are paid by volun- 
tary contributions. 

Our selections from the Four Books, as stated in the 
Preface, are from Dr. Legge’s translation ; and in trans- — 
ferring them we have followed his copy; the render- 
ing, the italics, and the pointing are his. The italics 
generally, but not quite universally, designate such 
words as had to be supplied in order.to give a smooth 
rendering into English. | 

In our choice of matter we have aimed to take such 
as might easily be comprehended by the general reader ; 
but we are aware that many admirers of the Four Books 
will be disappointed in not finding some passages which 
they have regarded as remarkable for beauty and force. 
We confess that we have left undisturbed many portions 
as full of excellence as any we have taken; sometimes 
because we had already selected sufficient to give the 
author’s view on a given subject, and sometimes because 
the passage, in order to be appreciated, needed a closer 
study than the general reader might be willing te devote 
to it ; and even with some of the sentences which we have 
quoted this is the case ; a careful reading is necessary in 
order to come at the full meaning of the author. 

One feature of Chinese composition is its sententious 


INTRODUCTION. 65 


style—laconic expressions ; and the beauty and force of 
these are often greatly marred, if not entirely spoiled, 
by a translation. Especially is this true concerning the 
translation of their proverbs and maxims. Were we to 
make any criticism on the translation before us, we 
would say that it is put into too good English. A trans- 
lation following the Chinese idiom more closely, and 
using fewer words, would often have presented the idea 
with more energy and point. 

The ancient emperors Yaou, and Shun, and Yu are 
often mentioned. The reader will refresh his mind as 
to who they were by referring back to the historical 
sketch. Without denying that they were real person- 
ages, yet doubtless the Chinese sages, considering their 
vocation as teachers, took some license, and embellished 
their characters somewhat, clothing these individuals 
with attributes which,‘in their estimation, perfectly wise 
and good emperors ought to possess ; and having thus 
clothed them they held them up for imitation, and in all 
their exhortations to kings and princes referred to what 
the divine rulers of ancient times said and did. 

Students in the Chinese language may perhaps be an- 
noyed in finding in different parts of the volume So 
many systems of pronunciation and spelling. This 
arises from the fact that our quotations are from transla- 
tions made by men of different nationalities, at different 
times, and living in different parts of the Chinese empire. 
Except where there has been an obvious mistake or mis- 
print, we have transferred the passage in the translator’s 
own style of spelling and pronunciation. 

In order to present the sayings of the sages grouped 
together under their appropriate heads, we are aware 


66 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


- ; 
that occasionally passages will occur, one part of which 
may appear to belong to one chapter, the other part to 
another chapter ; but considering the object we have had 
in view, our friends amongst the Chinese critics will for- 
give this seeming violence done to the text. 


BOOK I, 


THE LUN YU, OR CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


As arranged in the Four Books in the Chinese, the 
Lun Yu is the third in order, between the Chung Yung 
and Mencius ; but we see no important objection to fol- 
lowing here the order chosen by Dr. Legge in his trans- 
lation. r 

The Analects are discourses and dialogues ; that is, 
discourses and discussions of Confucius with his disci- 
ples and others on various topics, and his replies to 
their inquiries. There are, however, in the book many 
sayings of the disciples themselves. 

The account given of this book is, that after the death 
of the sage his disciples collected together, and compar- 
ed the memoranda of his conversations which they had 
severally preserved, and then digested and arranged 
them, and gave them the title of Lun Yu, or Digested 
Conversations. 


WHAT THE DISCIPLES SAY OF CONFUCIUS. 67 


CHAPTER I. 


WHAT THE DISCIPLES OF CONFUCIUS SAY 
OF THEIR MASTER. 


Tsze-k’in asked Tsze-kung, saying, “ When our Master 
comes to any country, he does not fail to learn all about 
its Government. Does he ask his information, or is it 
given to him ?” 

Tsze-kung said, “ Our Master is benign, upright, cour- 
teous, temperate, and complaisant, and thus he gets his 
information. ‘The Master’s mode of asking information! 
Is it not different from that of other men ?” 

Some one said, “ Who will say that the son of the man 
of Tsow knows the rules of propriety? He has entered 
the grand temple, and asks about everything.” 

The Master heard the remark, and said, “ There is a 
rule of propriety.” 

When the Master was in Ch’in, he said, “ Let me re- 
turn! Let me return! The little children of my school 
are ambitious and too hasty. They are accomplished 
and complete so far, but they do not know. how to restrict 
and shape themselves.’* 

When the Master was unoccupied with business, his 
manner was easy, and he looked pleased. 





* Confucius was thrice in Ch’in. It must have been the third 
time, when he thus expressed himself. We was then over sixty 
years, and being convinced that he was not to see for himself the 
triumph of his principles, he became the more anxious about their 
transmission. 


68 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


When the Master was eating by the side of a mourner, 
he never ate to the full. 

He did not sing on the same day in which he had 
been weeping. 

The things in reference to which the Master exercised 
the greatest caution were—fasting, war, and sickness. 

The Master’s frequent themes of discourse were—the 
odes, the history, and the maintenance of the rules of 
propriety. On all these he frequently discoursed. 

The subjects on which the Master did not talk were 
—extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder, and 
spiritual beings. 

The Master said, “ Heaven produced the virtue that 
is in me. Hwan T’uy—what can he do to me?” 

“Do you think, my disciples, that I have any conceal- 
ments? I conceal nothing from you. There‘is nothing 
which I do that is not shown to you, my disciples ;—that 
is my way.” 

There were four things which‘the Master taught—let- 
ters, ethics, devotion of soul, and truthfulness. 

When the Master was in company with a person who 
was singing, if he sang well he would make him repeat 
the song, while he accompanied it with his own voice. 

The Master said, “The sage and the man of perfect 
virtue ;—how dare I rank myself with him? It may 
simply be said of me, that I strive to become such with- 
out satiety, and teach others without weariness.” Kung-se 
Hwa said, “This is just what we, the disciples, cannot 
imitate you in.” 

The Master being very sick, Tsze-loo asked leave to 
pray for him. He said, “ May such a thing be done?” 
T’sze-loo replied, “It may. In the prayers it is said, 


WHAT THE DISCIPLES SAY OF CONFUCIUS. 69 


‘Prayer has been made to the spirits of the upper and 
lower worlds.’” ‘The Master said, “ My praying has 
been for a long time.” 

The Master was mild, and yet dignified ; majestic, and 
yet not fierce ; respectful, and yet easy. 

The subjects of which the Master seldom spoke were 
—profitableness, and also the appointments of Heaven, 
and perfect virtue. 

A man of the village of Ta-heang said, “ Great indeed 
is the philosopher K’ung! His learning is extensive, and 
yet he does not render his name famous by any farticu- 
far thing.” 

There were four things from which the Master was en- 
tirely free. He had no foregone conclusions, no arbi- 
trary predeterminations, no obstinacy, and no egotism. 

When the Master saw a person in a mourning dress, 
or any one with the cap and upper and lower garments 
of full dress, or a blind person, on observing them af- 
proaching, though they were younger than himself, he 
would rise up, and if he had to pass by them, he would 
do so hastily.* 

Shuh-sun Woo-shuh having spoken scriteaey of Chung- 
ne,f Tsze-Kung said, “ It is of no use doing so. Chung-ne 
cannot be reviled. The talents and virtues of other men 
are hillocks and mounds, which may be stept over. 
Chung-ne is the sun or moon, which it is not possible to 
step over. Although a man may wish to cut himself off 
Jrom the sage, what harm can he do to the sun or 





* Such consideration did he show to those who were in mourn- 
ing, and suffering misfortunes. 


+ Chung-ne was the marriage name of Confucius. 


« 


7Q CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


-moon? He only shows that he does not know his own 
capacity.’* 

“Our Master cannot be attained to, just in the same 
way as the heavens cannot be gone up to by the steps of 
a stair.” | 

“Were our Master in the position of the prince of a 
State, or the chief of a Family, we should find verified 
the description which has been given of a sage’s rule :—he 
would plant the people, and forthwith they would be es- 
tablished ; he would lead them on, and forthwith they 
would follow him ; he would make them happy, and forth- 
with multitudes would resort to 4zs dominions ; he would 
stimulate them, and forthwith they would be harmonious. 
While he lived, he would be glorious. When he died, he 
would be bitterly lamented. How is it possible for him 
to be attained to?” 

Formerly, when Confucius died, after three years had 
elapsed, his disciples collected their baggage, and pre- 
pared to return to their several homes. But on entering 
to take their leave of Tsze-kung, as they looked towards 
one another, they wailed, till they all lost their voices. 
After this they returned to their homes, but Tsze-kung 
went back, and built a house for himself on the altar- 
ground, where he lived alone other three years, before he 
returned home. 


WHAT CONFUCIUS SAYS OF HIMSELF. | 


The Master said, “I will not be afflicted at men’s not | 





* Confucius is like the sun or moon, high above the reach of de- 
preciation. 


WHAT CONFUCIUS SAYS OF HIMSELF. 7t 


knowing me; I will be afflicted that I do not know 
men.” 

“ At fifteen, I had my mind bent on learning. 

“ At thirty, I stood firm. 

“ At forty, I had no doubts. 

“ At fifty, I knew the decrees of Heaven. 

“ At sixty, my ear was an obedient organ for the recep- 
tion of truth. 

“ At seventy, I could follow what my heart desired, 
without transgressing what was right.” 

The Master said, “ Sin, my doctrine is that of an all- 
pervading unity.” ‘The disciple Tsing replied “ Yes.” 

The Master went out, and the other disciples asked, 
saying, “What do his words mean?” ‘Tsing said, 
“The doctrine of our Master is, to be true to the princi- 
ples of our nature, and the benevolent exercise of them 
to others. This and nothing more.” 

The Master said, “ A transmitter and not a maker, 
believing in and loving the ancients, I venture to com- 
pare myself with our old P’ang.” 

“The silent treasuring up of knowledge, learning with- 
out satiety, and instructing others without being wearied 
—what one of these things belongs to me ?” 

“The leaving virtue without proper cultivation; the 
not thoroughly discussing what is learned ; not being 
able to move towards righteousness of which a knowledge 
is gained ; and not being able to change what is not 
good—these are the things which occasion me solici- 
tude.” 

“Extreme is my decay. For a long time I have not 
creamed, as I was wont to do, that I saw the duke of 
Chow.” 


~“ 


72 - CONFU€IAN ANALECTS., 


“From the man bringing his bundle of dried flesh for 
my teaching upwards, I have never refused instruction to 
any one.” 

“T do not open up the truth to one who is not eager 
to get knowledge, nor help out any one who is not anx- 
ious to explain himself. When I have presented one 
corner of a subject to any one, and he cannot from it 
learn the other three, I do not repeat my lesson.” 

The Master said to Yen Yuen: “When called to office, 
to undertake its duties; when not so called, to lie re- 
tired : it is only I and you who have attained to this.” 

“With coarse rice to eat, with water to drink, and my 
bended arm for a pillow—I have still joy in the midst of 
these things. Riches and honors acquired by unright- 
eousness, are to me as a floating cloud.” 

“JT am not one who was born in the possession of 
knowledge ; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earn- 
est in seeking it ¢here. 

“When I walk along with two others, they may serve 
me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities 
and follow them—their bad qualities, and avoid them.” 

“There may be those who act without knowing why. 
Ido not do so. Hearing much, and selecting what is 
good, and following it; seeing much, and keeping it in 
memory : this is the second style of knowledge.” 

“ T admit people’s approach to me without committing 
myself as to what they may do when they have retired. 
Why must one be so severe? If a man purify himself to 
wait upon me, I receive him so purified, without guaran- 
teeing his past conduct.” | 

“Tf I have any errors, people are sure to know them.” 

“Tn letters, I am, perhaps, equal to other men, but 


“WHAT CONFUCIUS SAYS OF HIMSELF. 73 


the character of the superior man, carrying out in his con- 
duct what he professes, is what I have not yet attained 
to.” 

“Tf Heaven had wished to let the cause of truth per- 
ish, then I, a future mortal, should not have had such a 
relation to that cause. While Heaven does not let the 
cause of truth perish, what can the people of K’wang do 
to me?”* 

A high officer asked Tsze-Kung saying, “ May we not 
say that your master is a sage? How various is his abil- 
ity!” 

Tsze-Kung said, “ Certainly Heaven has endowed him 
unlimitedly. He is about a sage. And, moreover, his 
ability is various.” 

The Master heard of the conversation and said, “ Does 
the high officer know me? When I was young my con- 
dition was low, and therefore I acquired my ability in 
many things, but they were mean matters. Must the su- 
perior man have such variety of ability? He does not 
need variety of ability.” 

Laou said, “ ‘The Master said, ‘ Having no official em- 
ployment, I acquired many arts.’ ” 

The Master said, “ Am I indeed possessed of knowl- 
edge? I am not knowing. But if a mean person, who 
appears quite empty-like, ask anything of me, I set it 
forth from one end to the other, and exhaust it.” 

“ Abroad, to serve the high ministers and officers ; at 
home, to serve one’s father and elder brothers ; in all 





* He here identifies himself with the line of the great sages, to 
whom Heaven has intrusted the instruction of men. We are also 
reminded of the saying, “ Man is immortal till his work is donc.” 


4 


74 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


duties to the dead, not to dare not to exert one’s self; 
and not to be overcome of wine: what one of these 
things do I attain to?” 

“Twill not be concerned at men’s not knowing me ; 
I will be concerned at my own want of ability.” 

The Master said, “ Alas! there is no one that knows 
me.” 

Tsze-Kung said, “ What do you mean by thus saying, 
that no one knows you?” The Master replied, “I do 
not murmur against Heaven. I do not grumble against 
men. My studies lie low, and my penetration rises high. 
But there is Heaven ;—that knows me!” 

The Master having visited Nan-tsze, Tsze-loo was dis- 
pleased, on which the Master swore, saying, “ Wherein 
I have done improperly, may Heaven reject me! may 
Heaven reject me !”* 

The duke of Shé informed Confucius, saying, “Among 
us here there are those who may be styled upright in 
their conduct. If their father have stolen a sheep, they 
will bear witness to the fact.” 

Confucius said, “Among us, in our part of the country, 
those who are upright are different from this. The 
father conceals the misconduct of the son, and the son 
conceals the misconduct of the father. Uprightness is 
to be found in this.” | 

Keu Pih-yuh sent a messenger wth friendly inquiries 
to Confucius. 

Confucius sat with him and questioned him. “ What,” 





* Confucius had ridden in the chariot of Nan-Tsze, a lewd wo- 
man, wife of the duke of Wei: improper motives were imputed to 
him, and he here vindicates himself. 


EULOGIUM. 75 


said he, “is your master engaged in?” The messenger 
replied: “ My master is anxious to make his faults few, 
but he has not yet succeeded.” 


EULOGIUM. 


This section contains hardly any sayings of Confu- 
cius, but is descriptive of his ways and demeanor in a 
variety of places and circumstances. Many particulars 
are given, and trifling matters recorded, which writers of 
biography in these days would have left out. It is undoubt- 
edly well, however, that we have it, for by it we perceive 
that in ancient times, as well as in later years, men who 
appeared great in public, when seen in undress, at their 
meals, in their bedroom, did not always seem so great. 

We see how a great mind, while it can handle well great 
subjects, may also have its weaknesses and superstitions ; 
and while we perceive that in the same person may 
sometimes appear the marks of a sage and the charac- 
teristics of a child, we also are reminded that human 
nature of two thousand years ago was the human nature 
of to-day. While reading, we find ourselves musing 
thus: Such was the greatest man that has ever been 
produced by that nation which has not enjoyed the 
teaching and the influences of the Christian Scriptures. 
To what is it owing that our own great men are elevated 
above such puerilities as are here ascribed to the man 
whom four hundred millions of people adore as a saint? 
And are not greatness and littleness to this day charac- 
teristics of the nation who claim Confucius as their 
teacher and example? Of the traits which are most ob- 
servable, behold in their merchants, for example, a skill, 


76 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


large comprehension, and boldness of adventure equal to 
what is found in merchants of any other nation ; but at 
their worship, in the consulting of omens, their dread of 
spirits and devices to appease or terrify them, their 
superstitions, prejudices, and adherence to ancient cus- 
toms, and punctilious observance of forms in social and 
public life, we observe a childishness which is astonishing. 

This section is also valuable on account of the 
glimpses which it affords of customs amongst the ancient 
Chinese ; and in them we trace the origin of many cere- 
monies still practiced throughout China. 


DEMEANOR OF CONFUCIUS IN HIS VILLAGE, IN THE 
ANCESTRAL TEMPLE, AND IN THE COURT. 


Confucius, in his village, looked simple and sincere, 
and as if he were not able to speak. 

When he was in the frznce’s ancestorial temple, or in 
the Court, he spoke minutely on every point, but cau- 
tiously. 

When he was waiting at Court, in speaking with the 
officers of the lower grade, he spake freely, but in a 
straightforward manner. In speaking with the officers 
of the higher grade, he did so blandly, kut precisely. 

When the prince was present, his manner displayed 
_ respectful uneasiness—it was grave, but self-possessed. 

When the prince called him to employ him in the re- 
ception of a visitor, his countenance appeared to change, 
and his legs to bend beneath him. 

He inclined himself to the other officers among whom 
he stood, moving his right or left arm, as their position 


EULOGIUM. 77 


required, but keeping the skirts of his robe before and 
behind evenly adjusted. 

He hastened forward wth his arms like the wings of 
a bird. 

When the guest had retired, he would report to the 
prince, “ The visitor is not turning round any more.” 

When he entered the palace gate, he seemed to bend 
his body, as if it were not sufficient to admit him. 

When he was standing, he did not occupy the middle 
of the gateway. When he passed in or out he did not 
tread upon the threshold. 

When he was passing the vacant place of the prince, 
his countenance appeared to change, and his legs to 
bend under him, and his words came as if he hardly 
had breath to utter them. 

He ascended the dais holding up his robe with both 
his hands, and his body bent, holding in his breath also, 
as if he dared not breathe. 

When he came out from the audience, as soon as he had 
descended one step he began to relax his countenance, 
and had a satisfied look. When he had got to the bot- 
tom of the steps, he advanced rapidly to his place, with 
his arms like wings, and on occupying it his manner 
still showed respectful uneasiness. 

When he was carrying the scepter of his prince, he 
seemed to bend his body, as if he were not able to bear 
its weight. He did not hold it higher than the position 
of the hands in making a bow, nor lower than their po- 
sition in giving anything to another. His countenance 
seemed to change and look apprehensive, and he dragged 
his feet along as if they were held by something to the 
ground, 


78 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


In presenting the presents with which ne was charged, 
he wore a placid appearance. 

At his private audience he looked highly pleased. 

The superior man did not use a deep purple, ora 
puce color, in the ornaments of his dress. 

Even in his undress, he did not wear anything of a 
red or reddish color. 

In warm weather, he had a single garment either of 
coarse or fine texture, but he wore it displayed over an 
inner garment. 

Over lamb’s fur he wore a garment of black; over 
_ fawn’s fur one of white; and over fox’s fur one of yel- 
low. 

The fur robe of his undress was long, with the right 
sleeve short. | 

He required his sleeping dress to be half as long again 
as his body. 

When staying at home, he used thick furs of the fox 
or the badger. ' 

When he put off mourning, he wore all the appenda- 
ges of the girdle. 

His under garment, except when it was required to be 
of the curtain shape, was made of silk, cut narrow above 
and wide below. 

He did not wear lamb’s fur, or a black cap, on a visit 
of condolence. 

On the first day of the month, he put on his Court 
robes, and presented himself at Court. 

When fasting, he thought it necessary to have his 
clothes brightly clean, and made of linen cloth. 

When fasting, he thought it necessary to change his 


EULOGIUM. 79 


food, and also to change the place where he commonly 
sat in the apartment.* 

He did not dislike to have his rice finely cleaned, nor 
to have his minced meat cut quite small. 

He did not eat rice which had been injured by heat or 
damp and turned sour, nor fish or flesh which was gone. 
He did not eat what was discolored, or what was of a bad 
flavor, nor anything which was not in season. 

He did not eat meat which was not cut properly, nor 
what was served without its proper sauce. 

Though there might be a large quantity of meat, he 
would not allow what he took to exceed the due propor- 
tion for the rice. It was only in wine that he laid down 
no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be 
confused by it. 

He did not partake of wine and dried meat bought in 
the market. 

He was never without ginger when he ate. 

He did not eat much. , 

When he had been assisting at the prince’s sacrifice, 
he did not keep the flesh which he received over night. 
The flesh of his family sacrifice he did not keep over 
three days. If kept over three days, people could not 
eat it. 

When eating he did not converse. When in bed he 
did not speak. 

Although his food might be coarse rice and vegetable 





* This, together with other statements of his panegyrists, convey 
the impression that Confucius might have been somewhat super- 
stitious as well as nice. 


80 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


soup, he would offer @ Zit/e of it in sacrifice with a grave, 
respectful air, 

If his mat was not straight he did not sit on it. 

When the villagers were drinking together, on those 
who carried staves going out, he went out immediately 
after. 

When the villagers were going through their ceremo- 
nies to drive away pestilential influences, he put on his 
Court robes, and stood on the eastern steps. 

When he was sending complimentary inquiries to any 
one in another State, he bowed twice as he escorted the 
messenger away. 

Ke K’ang having sent him a present of physic, he 
bowed and received it, saying, “I do not knowit. I 
dare not taste it.” 

The stable being burned down, when he was at Court, 
on his return he said, “ Has any man been hurt?” He 
did not ask about the horses. 

When the prince sent him a gift of cooked meat he 
would adjust his mat, frst taste it, and then give it away 
to others. When the prince sent him a gift of undressed 
meat, he would have it cooked, and offer it to the spirits 
of his ancestors. When the prince sent him a gift of a 
living animal, he would keep it alive. 

When he was in attendance on the prince and joining 
in the entertainment, the prince only sacrificed. He 
first tasted everything. | 

When he was sick and the prince came to visit him, 
he had his head to the east, made his Court robes be 
spread over him, and drew his girdle across them. 

When the prince’s order called him, without waiting 
for his carriage to be yoked, he went at once. 


EULOGIUM. se 


When he entered the ancestral temple of the State, he 
asked about everything. 

When any of his friends died, if he had no relations 
who could be depended on for the necessary offices, he 
would say, “I will bury him.” 

When a friend sent him a present, though it might be 
- a carriage and horses, he did not bow. 

The only present for which he bowed was that of the 
flesh of sacrifice. 

In bed, he did not lie like a corpse. At home, he did 
not put on any formal deportment. 

When he saw any one in a mourning dress, though it 
might be an acquaintance, he would change countenance ; 
when he saw any one wearing the cap of full dress, or a 
blind person, though he might be in his undress, he 
would salute them in a ceremonious manner. 

To any person in mourning he bowed forward to the 
crossbar of his carriage ; he bowed in the same way to 
any one bearing the tables of population. 

When he was at an entertainment where there was an 
abundance of provisions set before him, he would change 
countenance and rise up.* 

On a sudden clap of thunder, or a violent wind, he 
would change countenance. 

When he was about to mount his carriage, he would 
stand straight, holding the cord. 

When he was in the carriage, he did not turn his head 
quite round, he did not talk hastily, he did not point with 
his hands. 





* “When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what 
is before thee, and put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given 
to appetite.” 

4* 


82 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


CHAPTER II. 


THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 


— 


HEAVEN DECREES, HELPS, REWARDS, PUNISHES. 


“Death and life have their determined appointments ; 
riches and honors depend upon Heaven.” 

The Master said, “If my principles are to advance, 
it is so ordered. If they are to fall to the ground, it is 
so ordered. What can the Kung-pih Leaou do, where 
such ordering is concerned ?” 

Yaou said, “Oh! you, Shun, the Heaven-determined 
order of succession now rests in your person. Sincerely 
hold fast the Due Mean. If there shall be distress and 
want within the four seas, your Heavenly revenue will 
come to a perpetual end.” 

Shun also used the same language in giving charge to 
Yu. 

T’ang said, “I, the child Le, presume to use a dark- 
colored victim, and presume to announce to Thee, O 
most great and sovereign God, that the sinner I dare 
not pardon, and thy ministers, O God, I do not keep in 
obscurity. The examination of them is by thy mind, O 
God. If, in my person, I commit offenses, they are not 


THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 83 


to be attributed to you, le people of the myriad regions. 
If you, in the myriad regions commit offenses, these of- 
fenses must rest on my person.” 


SERVING THE SPIRITS, AND WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS, 


Ke Loo asked about serving the spirits of the dead. 
The Master said, “ While you are not able to serve men, 
how can you serve ¢heir spirits?” Ke Loo added, “I 
venture to ask about death?” He was answered, “ While 
you do not know life, how can you know about death?” 

Tsze-loo said, “There are the altars of the spirits of 
the land and grain.” 

The Master, speaking of Chung-kung, said, “If the 
calf of a brindled cow be red and horned, although man 
may not wish to use it, would she spirits of the mountains 
and rivers put it aside?” * 

Tsze-kung wished to do away with the offering of a 
sheep connected with the inauguration of the first day 
of each month. 

The Master said, “'Tsze, you love the sheep; I love 
the ceremony.” T 





* The rules of the Chow dynasty required that sacrificial victims 
should be red and have good horns, An animal with those qualities, 
though it might spring from one not possessing them, would cer- 
tainly not be unacceptable on that account to the spirits sacri- 
ficed to. 


t The emperor in the last month of the year gave out to the 
princes a calendar for the first days of the twelve months of the 
year ensuing. This was kept in their ancestral temples, and on 
the first of each month they offered a sheep and announced the day, 
requesting sanction for the duties of the month. 


84 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


He ( Confucius ) sacrificed to the dead as if they were 
present. He sacrificed to the spirits as if the spirits 
were present. : 

The Master said, “ I consider my not being g present at 
the sacrifice as if I did not sacrifice.” 

The philosopher Tsing said, “ Let there be a careful 
attention Zo perform the funeral rites to parents, and let 
them be followed when long gone with the ceremonies of 
sacrifice: then the virtue of the people will resume its 
proper excellence.” 

Tsze-hea said, “ Mourning having been carried to the 
utmost degree of grief, should stop with that.” 

The philosopher Tsang said, “I heard this from our 
Master. Men may not have shown what is in them to 
the full extent, and yet they will be found to do so on 
occasion of mourning for their parents.”* 

Lin Fang asked what was the first thing to be attended 
to in ceremonies. 

The Master said, “ A great question, indeed !” 

“In festive ceremonies it is better to be sparing than 
extravagant. In the ceremonies of mourning it is better 
that there be deep sorrow than a minute attention to ob- 
servances.” 





* The sentiment designed to be expressed is, that grief for the 
loss of parents brings out the real nature of man. 


+ The reader may wonder that this chapter is so short, since the 
Chinese are such a religious people ; but throughout the work he 
will find many allusions to religious matters, and more of them 
would have been introduced here but for the fact that the para- 
graphs in which they occur belong more especially to other sub- 


THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 8% 


CONFUCIUS HAD NOT HEARD OF THE ATONEMENT. 


The Master said, “He who offends against Heaven 
has none to whom he can pray.” 

“Tf a man in the morning hear the right way, he may 
die in the evening without regret.” 





jects: The reader, however, will not fail to notice and be struck 
by them wherever they occur. 

As to the religious belief and practice of Confucius, he will Iearn 
that he believed in the power of heaven to decree, to reward and 
punish; that he worshiped heaven and earth, the spirits,. and 
ancestors ; that he prayed much, and sacrificed much; and that 
much emphasis was placed on the duties and ceremonies of mourn- 
ing for parents. 

The ancient Chinese believed in the existence and controlling 
power of spirits. They talked about the spirits of the land and 
grain, and of the hills and the fountains, and of the rain altars. They 
believed in omens, lucky and unlucky. They were superstitious, as 
they are now. . 

Mention is frequently made of Shang Tai, the High Ruler, by 
which the ancient Chinese doubtless understood a great ruling 
power somewhere. Shang Tai and Heaven generally meant the 
same thing, though many times in speaking of heaven as an object 
of worship their conceptions arose no higher than the visible 
heavens. 

The Chinese now everywhere have gods which they cal] Shang 
Tai, of which they have images, and concerning which their ideas 
are as low as concerning any other god which they worship. 


8&6 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


CHAPTER III. 





DOMESTIC RELATIONS. 





FILIAL PIETY. 


Wang E asked what filial piety was. The Master said, 
“Tt is, not being disobedient.” 

Soon after, as Fan Ch’e was driving him, the Master 
told him, saying, “ Wang-sun asked me what filial piety 
was, and I answered him—Not being disobedient.” 

Fan Ch’e said, “ What did you mean?” The Master 
replied, “That parents, when alive, should be served ac- 
cording to propriety; that, when dead, they should be 
buried according to propriety ; and that they should be 
sacrificed to according to propriety.” 

Tsze-yew asked him what filial piety was. The Mas- 
ter said, “The filial piety of now-a-days means the sup- 
port of one’s parents. But dogs and horses likewise are 
able to do something in the way of support ; without rev- 
erence, what is there to distinguish the one support given 
from the other?” 

Tsze-hea asked what filial piety was. The Master 
said, “The difficulty is with the countenance. If, when 
their elders have any troublesome affairs, the young take 


DOMESTIC RELATIONS. 87 


the toil of them, and if, when ¢he young have wine and 
food, they set them before their elders, is THIs to be con- 
sidered filial piety?” 

The Master said, “In serving his parents, @ son may 
-remonstrate wiih them, but gently ; when he sees that 
they do not incline to follow 4zs advice, he shows an in- 
creased degree of reverence, but does not abandon “zs 
purpose; and should they punish him, he does not allow 
himself to murmur.” 

“While his parents are alive, He son may not go abroad 
to a distance. If he does go abroad, he must have a 
fixed place to which he goes.” 

“Tf the son for three years does not alter from the way 
of his father, he may be called filial.” 

“The years of parents may by no means not be kept 
in the memory, as an occasion at once for joy and for 
fear.” 

The philosopher Yew said, “They are few who, being 
filial and fraternal, are fond of offending against their 
superiors. ‘There have been none, who, not liking to 
offend against their superiors, have been fond of stirring 
up confusion.” 

The Master said, “ While a man’s father 1s alive, look 
at the bent of his will ; when his father is dead, look at 
his conduct. If for three years he does not alter from 
the way of his father, he may be called filial.” 


SOCIAL INTERCOURSE, AND NEIGHBORHOOD OBLIGATIONS, 


The Master said, “Is it not pleasant to have friends 
coming from distant quarters?” 
“There are three friendships which are advantageous, _ 


88 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


and three which are injurious. Friendship with the up- 
right ; friendship with the sincere ; and friendship with 
the man of much observation: these are advantageous. 
Friendship with the man of specious airs; friendship 
with the insinuatingly soft ; and friendship with the glib- 
tongued : these are injurious.” 

“ There are three things men find enjoyment in which 
are advantageous, and three things they find enjoyment 
in which are injurious. To find enjoyment in the dis- 
criminating study of ceremonies and music ; to find en- 
joyment in speaking of the goodness of others ; to find 
enjoyment in having many worthy friends: these are ad- 
vantageous. To find enjoyment in extravagant pleasures ; 
to find enjoyment in idleness and sauntering ; to find en- 
joyment in the pleasures of feasting: these are injurious. 

“There are three errors to which they who stand in the 
presence of a man of virtue and station are liable. They 
may speak when it does not come to them to speak ; this 
is called rashness. ‘They may not speak when it comes 
to them to speak ; this is called concealment. They may 
speak without looking at the countenance of ¢heir supe- 
rior; this is called blindness.” 

“There are three things which the superior man guards 
against. In youth, when the physical powers are not yet 
settled, he guards against lust. When he is strong, and 
the physical powers are full of vigor, he guards against 
quarrelsomeness. When he is old, and the animal pow- 
ers are decayed, he guards against covetousness.” 

“There are three things of which the superior man 
stands in awe. He stands in awe of the ordinances of 
Heaven. He stands in awe of great men. He stands 
in awe of the words of sages. 


‘DOMESTIC RELATIONS. 89 


“The mean man does not know the ordinances of 
Heaven, and conseguently does not stand in awe of them. 
He is disrespectful to great men. He makes sport of 
the words of sages.” 

The disciples of Tsze-hea asked Tsze-chang about the 
principles of intercourse. ‘Tsze-chang asked, “What 
does Tsze-hea say on the subject?” They replied, Tsze- 
hea says, “ Associate with those who can advantage you. 
Put away from you those who cannot do so.” Tsze-chang 
observed, “This is different from what I have learned. 
The superior man honors the talented and virtuous, and 
bears with all. He praises the good, and pities the in- 
competent. Am I possessed of great talents and virtue? 
Who is there among men whom I will not bear with? 
Am I devoid of talents and virtue ?—men will put me 
away from them. What have we to do with the putting 
away of others?” 

“Virtue is not left tostand alone. He who practices it 
will have neighbors.” 

The Master said, “It is virtuous manners which con- 
stitute the excellence of a neighborhood. If a man, se- 
lecting a residence, do not fix on one where such prevail, 
how can he be wise?” 

Tsze-yew said, “In serving a prince, frequent remon- 
strances lead to disgrace. Between friends, frequent re- 
proofs make the friendship distant.” 

Tsze-kung asked about friendship. The Master said, 
“Faithfully admonish your friend, and kindly try to lead 
him. If you find him impracticable, stop. Do not dis- 
grace yourself.” 

‘The Master said, “A youth, when at home, should 
be filial, and abroad respectful to his eiders. He should 


go CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


_be earnest and truthful. He should overflow in love to 
all, and cultivate the friendship of the good. When he 
has time and opportunity, after the performance of these 
things, he should employ them in polite studies.” 


ON LITIGATION, 


The Master said, “In hearing litigations I am like 
any other body. What is necessary is to cause the people 
to have no litigations.” 





CHAPTER IV. 





ETHICS. 





VIRTUE. 


The Master said, “Is he not a man of complete virtue 
who feels no discomposure though men may take no note 
of him ?” 

“He who aims to be a man of complete virtue, in his 
food does not seek to gratify his appetite, nor in his 
dwelling-place does he seek the appliances of ease. He 
is earnest in what he is doing, and careful in his speech. 
He frequents the company of men of principle that he 
may be rectified. Such a person may be said, indeed, to 
love to learn.” 

“Tf the people be led by laws, and uniformity sought 
to be given them by punishment, they will try to avoid 
the punishment, but have no sense of shame. 


ETHICS. QI 


“Tf they be led by virtue, and uniformity sought to be 
given them by the rules of propriety, they will have the 
sense of shame, and moreover will become good.” 

The Master said, ‘‘ Those who are without virtue can- 
not abide long either in a condition of poverty and 
hardship, or in a condition of enjoyment. The virtuous 
rest in virtue ; the wise desire virtue.” 

The Master said, “It is only the truly virtuous man 
who can love, or who can hate others.” 


“Tf the will be set on virtue, there will be no practice 


of wickedness.” 

“ Riches and honors are what men desire. If it can- 
not be obtained in the proper way they should not be 
held. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike. If 
it cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not 
be avoided.” 

“Tf a superior man abandon virtue, how can he fulfill 
the requirements of that name ?” 

“The superior man does not, even for the space of a 
single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of 
haste he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger he cleaves 
to it.” 

“T have not seen a person who loved virtue, or one 
who hated what was not virtuous. He who loved virtue 
would esteem nothing above it. He who hated what is 
not virtuous, would practice virtue in such a way that he 
would not allow anything that is not virtuous to approach 
his person.” 

“The faults of men are characteristic of the class to 
which they belong. By observing a man’s faults it may 
be known that he is virtuous.” 

* A scholar whose mind is set on truth, and who is 


~ 


92 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


ashamed of bad clothes and bad food, is not fit to be 
discoursed with.” 

“The superior man in the world does not set his mind 
either for anything or against anything ; what is right he 
will follow.” 

“The superior man thinks of virtue ; the small man 
thinks of comfort. The superior man thinks of the 
sanctions of law ; the small man thinks of favors which 
he may receive.” . . 

Tsze-kung said, “ Suppose the case of a man exten- 
sively conferring benefits on the people, and able to as- 
sist all, what would you say of him? Might he be called 
perfectly virtuous ?” 

The Master said, “ Why speak only of virtue in con- 
nection with him? Must he not have the qualities of 
asage? Even Yaon and Shun were still solicitous about 
this. 

“Now the man of perfect virtue, wishing to be estab- 
lished himself, seeks also to establish others ; wishing 
to be enlarged himself, he seeks also to enlarge others. 

“To be able to judge of others by what is nigh zz our- 
selves ;—this may be called the art of virtue.” 

“Ts virtue a thing remote? I wish to be virtuous, and 
lo! virtue is at hand.” 

Yen Yuen asked about perfect virtue. The Master 
said, “To subdue one’s self and return to propriety, is 
perfect virtue. Ifa man can for one day subdue himself 
and return to propriety, all under heaven will ascribe 
perfect virtue to him. Is the practice of perfect virtue 
from a man himself, or is it from others? ” 

Yen Yuen said, “I beg to ask the steps of that pro- 
cess.” The Master replied, “ Look not at what is contrary 


ETHICS. 93 


to propriety ; listen not to what is contrary to proprie- 
ty ; speak not what is contrary to propriety ; make no 
movement which is contrary to propriety.” Yen Yuen 
then said, “Though I am deficient in intelligence and 
vigor, I will make it my business to practice this lesson.” 

Chung-Kung asked about perfect virtue. The Master 
said, “ /¢ zs, when you go abroad, ¢o behave to every one 
as if you were receiving a great guest ; to employ the 
people as if you were assisting at a great sacrifice ; not 
to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself ; 
to have no murmuring against you in the country, and 
none in the family.” Chung-Kung said, “Though I am 
deficient in intelligence and vigor, I will make it my 
business to practice this lesson.” 

Sze-ma New asked about perfect virtue. 

The Master said, “The man of perfect virtue is cau- 
tious and slow in his speech.” 

“ Cautious and slow in his speech!” said New; “is 
this what is meant by perfect virtue?” The Master said, 
“When a man feels the difficulty of doing, can he be 
other than cautious and slow in speaking?” 

Sze-ma New asked about the superior man? ‘The 
Master said, “The superior man has neither anxiety nor 
fear.” 

“Being without anxiety or fear!” said New; “does 
this constitute what we call the superior man ?” 

The Master said, “ Where internal examination dis- 
covers nothing wrong, what is there to be anxious about, 
what is there to fear?” 

Fan Ch’e rambling with the Master under ¢he trees 
about the rain-altars, said, “I venture to ask how to 


94 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


exalt virtue, to correct cherished evil, and to discover 
delusions.” 

The Master said, “ Truly a good question ! 

“Tf doing what is to be done be made the first busi- 
ness, and success a secondary consideration ; is not this 
the way to exalt virtue? To assail one’s own wickedness 
and not assail that of others ; is not this the way to cor- 
rect cherished evil ?* For a morning’s anger, to disregard 
one’s own life, and involve that of his parents ; is not 
this a case of delusion?” 

Fan Ch’e asked about perfect virtue. The Master 
said, “It is, in retirement, to be sedately grave ; in the 
management of business, to be reverently attentive ; in 
intercourse with others, to be strictly sincere. Though 
a man go among rude, uncultivated tribes, these qualities 
may not be neglected.” 

“Superior men, and yet not a/ways virtuous, there 
have been, alas! But there never has been a mean man, 
and at the same time, virtuous.” 

Tsze-loo asked what constituted a COMPLETE man. 
The Master said, “ Suppose a man with the knowledge 
of Tsang Woo-Chung, the freedom from covetousness of 
Kung-Ch’6, the bravery of Chwang of Peen, and the 
varied talents of Yen K’ew ; add to these the accomplish- 
ments of the rules of propriety and music: such an one 
might be reckoned a COMPLETE man.” 

He then added, “ But what is the necessity for a com- 
plete man of the present day to have all these things? 
The man who, in the view of gain, thinks of righteous- 
ness ; who, in the view of danger, is prepared to give up 





* First cast out the beam out of thine own eye. 


ETHICS. 95 


his life ; and who does noc forget an old agreement, 
however far back it extends: such aman may be reck- 
oned a complete man.”* 

“The determined scholar and the man of virtue will 
not seek to live at the expense of injuring their virtue. 
They will even sacrifice their lives to preserve their vir- 
tue complete.” 

Tsze-Kung asked about the practice of virtue. The 
Master said, “ The mechanic, who wishes to do his work 
well, must first sharpen his tools. When you are living 
in any State, take service with the most worthy among 
its great officers, and make friends of the most virtuous 
among its scholars.” 

The Master said, “ Virtue is more to man than either 
water or fire. I have seen men die from treading on 
water and fire, but I have never seena man die from 
treading the course of virtue.” 

“Let every man consider virtue as what devolves on 
himself. He may not yield the performance of it even 
to his teacher.” 

Tsze-chang asked Confucius about perfect virtue. 
Confucius said, “To be able to practice five things 
everywhere under heaven constitutes perfect virtue.” 
He begged to ask what they were, and was told, “ Grav- 
_ ity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kind- 
ness. If you are grave, you will not be treated with 
disrespect. If you are generous, you will win all. If 
you are sincere, people will repose trust in you. If you 
are earnest, you will accomplish much. If you are kind, 
this will enable you to employ the services of others.” 





* The complete man remembers his promises, and pays his 
debts, if possible. 


96 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS, 


“Fine words and an insinuating appearance are seldom 
associated with virtue.” | 

“The doings of the supreme Heaven have neither 
sound nor smell—that is perfect virtue.” * 

The Master said, “ By nature, men are nearly alike; 
by practice, they get to be wide apart.” 

“There are only the wise of the highest class and the 
stupid of the lowest class who cannot be changed.” 

“Without recognizing the ordinances of Heaven,t it 
is impossible to be a superior man.” 

“ Without an acquaintance with the rules of propriety, 
it is impossible for the character to be established.” 

“ Without knowing he force of words, it is impossible 
to know men.” $ 

“The superior man bends his attention to what is rad- 
ical. That being established, all practical courses natu- 
rally grow up. Filial piety and fraternal submission! 
are they not the root of all benévolent actions ?” 

Tsae Go asked, saying, “ A benevolent man, though it 
be told him, ‘There is a man in the well,’ will go in after 
him, I suppose.” Confucius said, “ Why should he do 
so? A superior man may be made to go @o the well, but 
he cannot be made to go down into it. He may be im- 
posed upon, but he cannot be befooled.” § 





* The acts of Heaven are perfectly pure—free from all human 
imperfections. 


+ The will of Heaven regarding right and wrong, of which man 
has the standard in his own moral nature. 


{ Words are the voice of the heart. To know a man we must 
attend well to what and how he thinks. 
§ The benevolent exercise their benevolence with prudence, 


ETHICS. 97 


Fan Ch’e asked about benevolence. The Master said, 
“Tt is to love a men.” He asked about knowledge. 
The Master said, “It is to know a men.” 

Some one said, “ What do you say concerning the prin- 
ciple that injury should be recompensed with kindness?” 

The Master said, “ With what, then, will you recompense 
kindness? 

“ Recompense injury with justice, and recompense 
kindness with kindness.” * 


NO EXAMPLES OF PERFECT VIRTUE. 


The Master said, “ A sage it is not mine to see ; could 
I see a man of real talent and virtue, that would satisfy 
me.” . 

“ A good man it is not mine to see; could I see a man 
possessed of constancy, that would satisfy me.” 

“Ts any one able for one day to apply his strength to 
virtue? I have not seen the case in which his strength 
would be sufficient. 

“Should there possibly be any such case, I have not 
seen it.” 


THE RULE OF LIFE IN ONE WORD. 


The Master said, “I have not seen a firm and un- 
bending man.” Some one replied, “There is Shin 
Ch’ang.” “Ch’ang,” said the -Master, “is under the in- 





* There is another Book which says, “Do good to them which 
hate you.” 


5 


98 — CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


fluence of his passions ; how can he be pronounced firm 
and unbending?” 

Tsze-Kung said, “What I do not wish men to do to 
me, I also wish not to do to men.” ‘The Master said, 
“'Tsze, you have not attained to that.” 

Tsze-Kung asked, saying, “Is there one word which 
may serve as a rule of practice for all one’s life?” The 
Master said, “Is not RECIPROCITY such a word? What 
you do not want done to yourself, do not do to others.’’* 


THE SUPERIOR MAN—THE BEAU IDEAL OF VIRTUE. 


Tsze-Kung asked what constituted the superior man. 
The Master said, “ He acts before he speaks, and after- 
wards speaks according to his actions.” 

The Master said, “The superior man is catholic, and 
no partisan. ‘The mean man isa partisan, and not cath- 
olic.” 

“The mind of the superior man is conversant with 
righteousness ; the mind of the mean man is conversant 
with gain.” 

“The superior man wishes to be slow in his words, and 
earnest in his conduct.” 

The Master said of Tsze-ch’an that he had four of the 
characteristics of a superior man : in his conduct of him- 
self, he was humble ; in serving his superiors, he was re- 
spectful ; in nourishing the people, he was kind ; in or- 
dering the people, he was: just.” 





* The rule given in the Sermon on the Mount is more compre- 
hensive ; it reads, “‘ Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” 


ETHICS. 99 


“When Ch’ih was procecding to Ts’e, he had fat horses 
to his carriage, and wore light furs. I have heard that a 
superior man helps the distressed, but does not add to 
the wealth of the rich.” 

Yuen Sze being made governor of his town by the Mas- 
ter, he gave him nine hundred measures of grain, but Sze 
declined them. 

The Master said, “Do not decline them. May you 
not give them away in the neighborhoods, hamlets, 
towns, and villages?” 

“Let the superior man never fail reverentially to order 
his own conduct, and let him be respectful to others and 
observant of propriety : then all within the four seas will 
be his brothers.* What has the superior man to do with 
being distressed because he has no brothers?” 

Kih Tsze-shing said, “In a superior man it is only the 
substantial qualities which are wanted ; why should we 
seek for ornamental accomplishments ?” 

Tsze-kung said, “ Alas! Your words, sir, show you to 
be a superior man, but four horses cannot overtake the 
tongue. 

“Ornament is as substance; substance is as orna- 
ment. ‘The hide of a tiger or leopard stript of its hair, 
is like the hide of a dog or goat stript of its hair.” 

The Master said, “The superior man is affable, but 





* The great Yu is represented as having made the four seas as 
four ditches, to which he drained the waters inundating “ the mid- 
dle kingdom.” Plainly, the ancient conception of their own coun- 
try was, as the great habitable tract; north, south, east, and west 
of which were four seas or oceans, between whose shores and their 
own borders the intervening space was not very great, and occu- 
pied by wild hordes of inferior races, 


an 


I0o CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


not adulatory ; the mean man is adulatory, but not affa- 
ble.” | 

“The superior man is easy to serve, and difficult to 
please. If you try to please him in any way which is not: 
accordant with right, he will not be pleased. But in his 
employment of men, he uses them according to their ca- 
pacity. The mean man is difficult to serve, and easy to 
please. If you try to please him, though it be in a way 
which is not accordant with right, he may be pleased. 
But in his employment of men, he wishes them to be 
equal to everything.” 

“The superior man has a dignified ease without pride. 
The mean man has pride without a dignified ease.” 

“The firm, the enduring, the simple, and the modest, 
are near to virtue.” 


/ “The progress of the superior man is upwards; the 
‘ progress of the mean man is downwards.” 


The philosopher Ts’ang said, “The superior man, in 
his thoughts, does not go out of his place.” 

The Master said, “ The superior man is modest in his 
speech, but exceeds in his actions.” 

“The way of the superior man is three-fold, but I am 
not equal to it. Virtuous, he is free from anxieties ; 
wise, he is free from perplexities ; bold, he is free from 
fear.” : 
“ He who does not anticipate attempts to deceive him, 
nor think beforehand of his not being believed, and yet 
apprehends these things readily when they occur—is he 
not a man of superior worth?” 

“The superior man in everything considers righteous- 
ness to be essential. He performs it according to the 
rules of propriety. He brings it forth in humility. He 


> : ? 2 »2 : >> ; “4s uy 
> y ) D3 J 3 a Las ) > Get 7, 
RE 528 22, BOB 2555 


completes it with sincerity. This is indeed a superior 
man.” ; 

“The superior man is distressed by his want of ability. 
He is not distressed by men’s not knowing him. 

“ He dislikes the thought of his name not being men- 
tioned after his death. 

“What the superior man seeks, is in himself. What 
the mean man seeks, is in others. 

“ He is dignified, but does not wrangle. He is socia- 
ble, but not a partisan. 

“He does not promote a man sz#f/y on account of his 
words, nor does he put aside good words because of the 
man.” 

“The object of the superior man is truth. Food is 
not his object. There is ploughing ; even in that there 
is sometimes want. So with learning; emolument may be 
found in it. The superior man is anxious lest he should 
not get truth; he is not anxious lest poverty should come 
upon him.” 

“The superior man is correctly firm, and not firm 
merely.” 

“The superior man has nine things which are subjects 
with him of thoughtful consideration. In regard to the 
use of his eyes, he is anxious to see clearly. In regard 
to the use of his ears, he is anxious to hear distinctly. 
In regard to his countenance, he is anxious that it should. 
be benign. In regard to his demeanor, he is anxious 
that it should be respectful. In regard to his speech, 
he is anxious that it should be sincere. In regard to his 
doing of business, he is anxious that it should be rev- 
erently careful. In regard to what he doubts about, he 
is anxious to question others. When he is angry, he 


€ 
€ « 


FOR OE 8 o  DPAWEUCIAN ANALECTS. 


thinks of the difficulties his anger may involve him in. 
When he sees gain to be got, he thinks of righteous- 
ness.” 

Tsze-loo said, “ Does the superior man esteem valor ?” 
The Master said, “’The superior man holds righteous- 
ness to be of highest importance. A man in a superior 
situation, having valor without righteousness, will be 
guilty of insubordination ; one of the lower people, hav- 
ing valor without righteousness, will commit robbery.” 

Tsze-kung said, “ Has the superior man his hatreds 
also?” The Master said, “ He has his hatreds. He 
hates those who proclaim the evil of others. He hates 
the man who, being in a low station, slanders his supe- 
riors.. He hates those who have valor mere/y, and are 
unobservant of propriety. He hates those who are for- 
ward and determined, and af the same time of contracted 
understanding.” 

The Master then inquired, “'Tsze, have you also your 
hatreds?” TZsze-kung replied, “I hate those who pry out 
matters, and ascribe the knowledge to their wisdom. I 
hate those who are only zo¢ modest, and think that they 
are valorous. I hate those who make known secrets, 
and think that they are straightforward,” 

Tsze-hea said, “ The superior man, having obtained 
their confidence, may then impose labors on his people. 
If he have not gained their confidence, they will think 
that he is oppressing them. Having obtained the confi- 
dence of his prince, he may then remonstrate with him. 
If he have not gained his confidence, the prince will 
think that he is vilifying him.” 

Tsze-kung said, “The faults of the superior man are 
like the eclipses of the sun and moon. He has his 


ETHICS. | 103 


faults, and all men see them; he changes again, and all 
men look up to him.” 


ON THE FORMATION OF CHARACTER. 


Tsze-hea said, “If a man withdraws his mind from the 
love of beauty, and applies it as sincerely to the love of 
the virtuous ; if in serving his parents he can exert his 
utmost strength ; if in serving his prince he can devote 
his life ; if in his intercourse with his friends his werds 
are sincere ; although men say he has not learned, I will 
certainly say that he has.” 

Tsze-kung said, ‘“ What do you pronounce concerning 
the poor man who yet does not flatter, and the rich man 
who is not proud?” Tke Master replied, “ They will 
do ; but they are not equal to him who, though poor, is 
yet cheerful, and to him who, though rich, loves the rules 
of propriety.” 

Tsze-kung replied, “It is said in the Book of Poetry, 
‘ As you cut and then file, as you carve and then polish.’ 
The meaning is the same, I apprehend, as that which 
you have just expressed.” 

The Master said, “ With one like Tsze I can begin to 
talk about the Odes. I told him one point, and he 
knew its proper sequence.”* 

“Yn the Book of Poetry are three hundred pieces, but _ 





* Reference is made to the ode which praises the prince who 
dealt with himself as the ivory-worker or lapidary works his ma- 
terials, meaning that a person must not be satisfied with present 
attainments, but strive after greater. 


104 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


the design of them all may be embraced in one sentence: 
‘ Have no depraved thoughts.’ ” 

“ See what a man does. 

“ Mark his motives. 

“ Examine 1 what things he rests. 

“ How can a man conceal his character ? 

“ How can a man conceal his character !” 

“ Ifa man keeps cherishing his old knowledge, so as 
continually to be acquiring new, he may be a teacher of 
others.” 

Tsze-chang was learning with a view to official emolu- 
ment. 

-The Master said, “ Hear much, and put aside the 
points of which you stand in doubt, while you speak cau- 
tiously at the same time of the others ; then you will 
afford few occasions for blame. See much, and put aside 
the things which seem perilous, while you are cautious at 
the same time in carrying the others into practice ; then 
you will have few occasions for repentance. When one 
gives few occasions for blame in his words, and few occa- 
sions for repentance in his conduct, he is in the way to 
get emolument.” | 

“He who acts with a constant view to his own advan- 
tage will be much murmured against.” 

“4A man should say,I am not concerned that I have 
no place ; I am concerned how I may fit myself for one. 
I am not concerned that I am not known ; I seek to be 
worthy to be known.” 

“Can men refuse to assent to the words of strict ad- 
monition? But it is reforming the conduct because of 
them which is valuable. Can men refuse to be pleased 
with words of gentle advice? But it is unfolding their 


ETHICS. 105 


aim which is valuable. If a man be pleased with these 
words, but does not unfold their aim, and assents to 
these, but does not reform his Sonat I can really do 
nothing with him.” 

“Hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles. 
Have no friends not equal to yourself. When you have 
faults, do not fear to abandon them.” 

“The commander of the forces of a large State may 
be carried off, but the will of even a common man 
cannot be taken from him.” 


WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE. 


Fan Ch’e asked what constituted wisdom. The Mas- 

ter said, “To give one’s self earnestly to the duties due to 
men, and, while respecting spiritual beings, to keep aloof 
from them, may be called wisdom.” He asked about 
perfect virtue. The Master said, “The man of virtue 
makes the difficulty zo de overcome his first business, and 
success only a subsequent consideration: this may be 
called perfect virtue.” 
_ “The wise find pleasure in water ; the virtuous find 
pleasure in hills. The wise are active ; the virtuous are j 
tranquil. The wise are joyful, the virtuous are long- | 
lived.” 

Tsze-chang asked what constituted intelligence. The 
Master said, “‘ He with whom neither slander, that grad- 
ually soaks zzfo the mind, nor statements that startle like 
a wound in the flesh, are successful, may be called intel- 
ligent indeed. Yea, he with whom neither soaking slan- 

5% 


/ 


106 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


der,* nor startling statements are successful, may be called 
far-seeing.” 

The Master said, “ Yew, shall I teach you what knowl- 
edge is? When you know a thing, to hold that you know 
it; and when you do not know a thing, to allow that you 
do not know it: this is knowledge.” 


PROPRIETY. 


The Master said, “ Respectfulness, without the rules 
of propriety, becomes laborious bustle ; carefulness, with- 
out the rules of propriety, becomes timidity ; boldness, 
without the rules of propriety, becomes insubordination ; 
straightforwardness, without the rules of propriety, be- 
comes rudeness.” 

“'Thefe are three principles of conduct, which the man 
of high rank should consider specially important: that 
in his deportment and manner he keep from violence and 
heedlessness ; that in regulating his countenance he keep 
near to sincerity; and that in his words and tones he 
keep far from lowness and impropriety. As to such 
matters as attending to the sacrificial vessels, there are 
the proper officers for them.” 

The philosopher Tsing said, “I daily examine myself 
on three points: whether in transacting business for oth- 
ers I may have been not faithful ; whether in intercourse 
with friends I may have been not sincere ; whether I may 
have not mastered and practiced the instructions of my 
teacher.” 





* Slander soaks into the mind as water into low and marshy 
places, wliere it becomes stagnant and offensive. 


ETHICS. 1C7 


The philosopher Yew said, “In practicing the rules of 
propriety, a natural ease is to be prized. In the ways 
prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the excellent 
quality, and in things small and great we follow them.” 


TRUTHFULNESS AND SINCERITY. 


The Master said, “I do not know how a man without 
truthfulness is to get on. How can a large carriage be 
made to go without the cross-bar for yoking the oxen to, 
or a small carriage without the arrangement for yoking 
the horses?” 

“ For a man to sacrifice to a spirit which does not be- 
long to him, is flattery.” 

“'To see what is right and not to do it, is want of cour- 
age.” ie 
“Man is born for uprightness. If a man lose his up- 
rightness, and yet live, his escape from death is the effect 
of mere good fortune.” * 

“They. who know ée truth are not equal to those who _ 
love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who. 
find pleasure in it.” / 

Tsze-chang asked how a man might conduct himself, 
so as to be everywhere appreciated. 

The Master said, “ Let his words be sincere oa truth- 
ful, and his actions honorable and careful ; such conduct 
may be practiced among the rude tribes of the South or 





* An important truth struggles here for expression, but only finds 
it imperfectly. Without uprightness the end of man’s existence is 
not fulfilled, but his preservation in such case is not merely a for- 
tunate accident, 


# 


108 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


the North. If his words be not sincere and truthful, and 
his actions not honorable and careful, will he, with such 
conduct, be appreciated, even in his neighborhood? 

“When he is standing, let him see those two things, 
as it were, fronting him. When he is in a carriage, let 
him see them attached to the yoke. Then may he sub- 
sequently carry them into practice.” 

Tsze-chang wrote these counsels on the end of his 
sash. 

The Master said, “ Even in my earZy days, a historiog- 
rapher would leave a blank in his text,* and he who had 
a horse would lend him to another to ride. Now, alas! 
there are no such things.” 

The Master said, “ Fine words, an insinuating appear- 
ance, and excessive respect—Tso-K’ew Wing was asham- 
ed of them. I also am ashamed of them. To conceal 
resentment against a’person, and appear friendly with 
him—Tso-K’ew Wing was ashamed of such conduct. I 
also am ashamed of it.” 

~Yen Yuen and Ke Loo being by his side, the Master 
said to them, “ Come, let each of you tell his wishes.” 

Tsze-loo said, “I should like, having chariots and 
horses, and light fur dresses, to share them ‘with my 
friends ; and though they should spoil them, I would not 
be Dislénsad. et 

Yen Yuen said, “I should like not to boast of my ex- 
cellence, nor to make a display of my meritorious deeds.” 
_ Tsze-loo then said, “I should like, sir, to hear yotr 
wishes.” The Master said, “Zey are, in regard to the 





* Anciently the historiographer recorded only what was true, and 
did not draw upon imagination from “fear of spoiling the story.” 


ETHICS. “109 


aged, to give them rest; in regard to friends, to show 
them sincerity ; in regard to the young, to treat them 
tenderly.” 

The Master said, “It is all over! I have not yet seen 
one who could perceive his faults, and inwardly accuse 
himself.” 

“In a hamlet of ten families, there may be found one 
honorable and sincere as I am, but not so fond of learn- 
ing.” . 

“Having not, and yet affecting to have; empty, and 
yet affecting to be full; straitened, and yet affecting to 
be at ease: it is difficult, with such characteristics, to 
have constancy.” 

Tsze-chang having asked how virtue was to be exalted, 
and delusions to be discovered, the Master said, “ Hold 
faithfulness and sincerity as first principles, and be mov- 
ing continually to what is right : this is the way to exalt 
one’s virtue.” 

Tsze-loo never slept over a promise. 

The Master said, “ By extensively studying all learn- 
ing, and keeping himself under the restraint of the rules 
_of propriety, ove may thus likewise not err from what is 
right.” # 

The Master said, “ Fine words and an insinuating ap- 
_ pearance are seldom associated with true virtue.” 

“The student of virtue has no contentions. If it be 
said he cannot avoid them, shall this be in archery? But 
he bows complaisantly Zo his competitors ; thus he ascends 
the al, descends, and exacts the forfeit of drinking.” * 





— 


* Anciently the forfeit was paid by the person losing taking the 
wine; which practice has been handed down to the present day, and 


Ilo CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


EDUCATION. 


The Master said, “ {[s it not pleasant to learn with a 
constant perseverance and application ? 

“Tf the scholar be not grave, he will not call forth any 
veneration, and his learning will not be solid.” | 
~ “Learning without thought is labor lost ; thought with- 
out learning is perilous.” 

“The study of strange doctrines is injurious indeed !” 

When Tsze-loo heard anything, if he had not yet car- 
ried it into practice, he was only afraid lest he should 
hear something else. . 

Tsze-Kung asked, saying, “ On what ground did Kung- 
win get that title of wan?” The Master said, “ He was 
of an active nature and yet fond of learning, and he was 
not ashamed to ask and Zearn of his inferiors! On these 
grounds he has been styled wan.” (WaN—wmeaning ac- 
complished.) 

The Master said, “To those whose talents are above 
mediocrity, the highest subjects may be announced. ‘To 
those who are below mediocrity, the highest subjects may 
not be announced.” 

“ Let the will be set on the path of duty. — 

“Let every attainment in what is good be firmly 
grasped. 

“ Let perfect virtue be accorded with. 

“Let relaxation and enjoyment be found in the polite 
arts.” 





may be witnessed at the festive boards of the Chinese when they 
play at the game of guessing on fingers; the one who guesses wrong 
is punished by being made to drink a cup of wine. 


bh ee ETHICS. TIt 


‘ 


“Learn as if you could not reach your object, and were 
always fearing also lest you should lose it.” 

“ The prosecution of learning may be compared to what 
may happen in raising a mound. * If there want but one 
basket of earth to complete the work, and I stop, the 


- stopping is my own work. It may be compared to “#row- — 


ing down the earth on the level ground. Though du¢t one 
basketful is thrown a¢ a ¢2me, the advancing with it is my 
own going forward.” 

The Master said of Yen Yuen, “ Alas! I saw his con- 
stant advance. I never saw him stop in his progress.” 

“ There are cases in which the blade springs, but the 
plant does not go on to the flower! There are cases 
where it flowers, but no fruit is subsequently produced !”* 

The philosopher Tsang said, “The superior man on 
literary grounds, meets with his friends, and by their 
fiendship helps his virtue.” 

The Master said, “The scholar who cherishes the love 
of comfort, is not fit to be deemed a scholar.” 

“Tn ancient times, men learned with a view to their 
own improvement. Now-a-days men learn with a view 
to the approbation of others.” 

“Those who are born with the possession of knowl- 
edge, are the highest class of men. Those who learn, 
_and so, readily get possession of knowledge, are the next. 
Those who are dull and stupid, and yet compass the 
learning, are another class next to these. As to those 
who are dull and stupid and yet do not learn, they are 
the lowest of the people.” 





* Learners should not cease nor intermit their labors. It is the 
end which crowns the work. 


\ 


I1I2 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


DILIGENCE, TEMPERANCE, POLITENESS. 


Tsae Yu being asleep during the daytime, the Master 
said, “ Rotten wood cannot be carved ; a wall of dirty 
earth will not receive the trowel. This Yu! what is the 

use of my reproving him?” 

_ The Master said, “ At first my way with men was to 
hear their words, and give them credit for their conduct. 
Now my way is to hear their words, and look at their . 
conduct. It is from Yu that I have learned to make 
this change.” 

Chung-Kung said, “ If a man cherish in himself a rey- 
erential feeling of the necessity of attention to business, 
‘though he may be easy in small matters in his govern- 
ment of the people, that may be allowed. But if he 
cherish in himself that easy feeling, and also carry it out 
in his practice, is not such an easy mode of procedure 
excessive ?” 

The Master said, “Kung’s words are right.” 

The Master said, “ Admirable indeed was the virtue 
of Hwuy! With a single bamboo dish of rice, a single 
gourd dish of drink, and living in his mean, narrow lane, 
while others could not have endured the distress, he did 
~ not allow his joy to be affected by it. Admirable indeed 
was the virtue of Hwuy!” 

“ Extravagance leads to insubordination, and parsimo- 
ny to meanness. It is. better to be mean than to be 
insubordinate.” 

“The superior man is satisfied and composed ; the 
mean man is always full of distress.” 

“ T can find no flaw in the character of Yu: He used 


ETHICS. — 113 


himself coarse food and drink, but displayed the utmost: 
filial piety towards the spirits. His ordinary garments 
were poor, but he displayed the utmost elegance in his 
sacrificial cap and apron. He lived in a low mean house, 
but expended all his strength on the ditches and water- 
channels. I can find nothing like a flaw in Yu.” 

The Master said, “ Gan P’ing knew well how to main- 
tain friendly<intercourse. The acquaintance might be 
long, but he showed the same respect as at first.” 

A youth of the village of K’euéh was employed by 
Confucius to carry the messages between him and his 
visitors. Some one asked about him, saying, “I sup- 
pose he has made great progress.” 

The Master said, “I observe that he is fond of occu- 
pying the seat of a full-grown man ; I observe that he 
walks shoulder to shoulder with his elders. He is not 
one who is seeking to make progress zz “earning. He 
wishes quickly to become a man.” * 


GENERAL DUTIES, 


The philosopher Yew said, “ When agreements are 
made according to what is right, what is spoken can be 
made good. When respect is shown according to what 
is proper, one keeps far from shame and disgrace. When 
the parties upon whom a man leans are proper persons 
to be intimate with, he can make them his guides and 
masters.” 





* Rules of ceremony give the corner to the youth, the body of 
the room to the full-grown men; and in walking, the youth walks a 
little behind the elder. 


IIt4 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


The Master said, “This man seldom speaks ; when 
he does, he is sure to hit the point.” 

Tsze-kung asked which of the two, Sze or Shang, was 
the superior. ‘The Master said, “Sze goes beyond the 
due mean, and Shang does not come up to it.” 

“Then,” said Tsze-kung, “ the superiority is with Sze, 
I suppose.” 

The Master said, “To go beyond is as wrong as to 
fall short.” ; 

“ Employ the upright, and put aside all the crooked. 
In this way the crooked can be made to be upright.” 

Yuen Jang was squatting on his heels and so waited 
the approach of the Master, who said to him, “ In youth, 
not humble as befits a junior ; in manhood, doing noth- 
ing worthy of being handed down ; and living on to old 
age—this is to be a pest.” 

When Confucius was in Ch’in, their provisions were 
exhausted, and his followers became so ill that they were 
unable to rise. 

*Tsze-loo, with evident dissatisfaction, said, “ Has the 
superior man likewise to endure zz this way?’ The 
Master said, “The superior man may indeed have to 
endure want ; but the mean man, when he is in want, 
gives way to unbridled license.’”* 

The Master said, “When a number of people are to- 
gether for a whole day without their conversation turning 
en righteousness, and when they are fond of carrying 
out the suggestions of a small shrewdness, theirs is indeed 
a hard case.” 





* In the midst of distress, he shows the disciples how the supe- 
rior man is above complaining. 


ETITICS. 115 


The Master said, “‘ Yew, have you heard the six words 
to which are attached six becloudings?”’ Yew replied, 
-“T have not.” 

Sit down, and I will tell them to you. 

“There is the love of being benevolent without the 
love of learning ; the beclouding here leads to a foolish 
simplicity. There ts the love of knowing without the 
love of learning ; the beclouding here leads to dissipa- 
tion of mind. ‘There is the love of being sincere with- 
out the love of learning ; the beclouding here leads to 
an injurious disregard of consequences. ‘There is the 
love of straightforwardness without the love of learning ; 
the beclouding here leads to rudeness. There is the 
love of boldness without the love of learning ; the be- 
clouding here leads to insubordination. There is the 
love of firmness without the love of learning ; the be- 
clouding here leads to extravagant conduct.” 

The Master said, “ My children, why do you not study 
the Book of Poetry ? 

“ The Odes serve to stimulate the mind. . 

“They may be used for purposes of self-contempla- 
tion. 

“ They teach the art of sociability. 

“ They show how to regulate feelings of resentment. 

“From them you learn the more immediate duty of 
serving one’s father, and the remoter one of serving 
one’s prince. 

“From them we become largely acquainted with the 
names of birds, beasts, and plants.” 

Tsze-chang said, “ The scholar trazned for public duty 
seeing threatening danger, is prepared to sacrifice his 
life. When the opportunity of gain is presented to him, 


TIS i CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


he thinks of righteousness. In sacrificing, his thoughts 
are reverential.. In mourning, his thoughts are about 
the grief which he should feel, Such a man commands’ 
our approbation indeed.” 


ON GOVERNMENT. 117 


CHAPTER V. 


? 





ON GOVERNMENT. 


——— 


ADVICE FOR KINGS. 


The Master said, “To rule a country of a thousand 
chariots, there must be reverent attention to business, 
and sincerity ; economy in expenditure and love for 
men ; and the employment of the people at the proper 
seasons.” 

“ He who exercises government by means of his virtue 
may be compared to the north polar siar, which keeps 
its place, and all the stars turn towards it.” 

The duke Gae asked, saying, “ What should be done 
in order to secure the submission of the people?” . Con- 
fucius replied, ‘“ Advance the upright and set aside the 
crooked, then the people will submit. Advance the 
crooked and set aside the upright, then the people will 
not submit.” 

Ke K’ang asked how to cause the people to reverence 
their ruler, to be faithful to him, and to urge themselves, 
to virtue. The Master said, “Let him preside over | 
them with gravity, then they will reverence him. Let 


1:3 CONFUCIAN ANALEFETS. 


him be filial and kind to all, then they will be faithful to 
him. Let him advance the good and teach the incom- 
petent, then they will eagerly seek to be virtuous.” 

Some one addressed Confucius, saying, “ Sir, why are 
you not engaged in the government ?” 

The Master said, “ What does the Skoo-king say of © 
filial piety? ‘You are filial, you discharge your brotherly 
duties. These qualities are displayed in government.’ 
This then also constitutes the exercise of government. 
Why must there be THaT to make one be in the govern- 
ment ?” 

“ Pih-e and Shuh-ts’e did not keep the former wicked- 
ness of men in mind, and hence the resentments directed 
towards them were few.” 

“When those who are in high stations perform well all 
‘their duties to their relations, the people are aroused to 
virtue. When old friends are not neglected by them, 

the people are preserved from meanness.” 
*  Tsze-kung asked about government. The Master 
said, “ Zhe reguzsites of government are, that there be 
sufficiency of food, sufficiency of military equipment, and 
the confidence of the people in their ruler.” 

Tsze-Kung said, “If it cannot be helped, and one of 
these must be dispensed with, which of the three should 
be foregone first?” “The military equipment,” said the 

Master. 

' Tsze-Kung again asked, “If it cannot be helped, and 
one of the remaining two must be dispensed with, which 
of them should be foregone?” The Master answered, 
“ Part with the food. From of old, death has been the 
lot of all men; but if the people have no faith i their 
rulers, there is no standing for the State.” 


ON GOVERNMENT. 119 


Tsze-chang asked about the government. The Master 
said, “Zhe art of governing is to keep its affairs before 
the mind without weariness, and to practice them with 
undeviating consistency.” 

Ke K’ang asked Confucius about government. Con- , 
fucius replied, “To govern meatis to rectify. If you lead / 
on the people with correctness, who will dare not to be 
correct ?” 

Ke K’ang, distressed about the number of thieves 7 
the State, inquired of Confucius about how to do away 
with them. Confucius said, “If you, sir, were not covy- 
etous, although you should reward them to do it, they 
would not steal.” 

Ke K’ang asked Confucius about government, saying, 
“What do you say to killing the unprincipled for the 
good of the principled?” Confucius replied, “Sir, in 
carrying on your government, why should you use killing 
at all? Let your evinced desires be for what is good, and 
the people will be good. The relation between superi- 
ors and inferiors is like that between the wind and the 
grass. The grass must bend when the wind blows 
across it.” 

Tsze-chang asked, “ What must the officer be, who 
may be said to be distinguished ?” 

The Master said, “ What is it you call being distin- 
guished ?” 

Tsze-chang replied, “It is to be heard of through the 
State ; to be heard of through the family.” 

The Master said, “ That is notoriety, not distinction. 

“Now, the man of distinction is solid and straightfor- 
ward, and loves righteousness. He examines people’s 
words, and looks at their countenances. He is anxious 


120 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


to humble himself to others. Such a man will be dis- 
tinguished in the country ; he will be distinguished in the 
family. 

“ As to the man of notoriety, he assumes the appear- 
ance of virtue, but his actions are opposed to it, and he 
rests in his character without any doubts about himself. 
Such a man will be heard of in the country ; he will be 
heard of in the family.” 

Tsze-loo asked about government. The Master said, 
“Go before the people with your example, and be labori- 
ous in their affairs.” 

“ Be not weary in these things.” 

“ Employ first the services of your various officers, par- 
don small faults, and raise to office men of virtue and 
talents.” 

Chung-Kung said, “ How shall I know the men of vir- 
tue and talents, so that I may raise them to office?” He 
was answered, “Raise to office those whom you know. 
As to those whom you do not know, will others neglect 
them?” . 

“If a superior love propriety, the people will not dare 
not to be reverent. If he love righteousness, the peo- 
ple will not dare not to submit 40 Azs example. If he love 
good faith, the people will not dare not to be sincere. 
Now, when these things obtain, the people from all quar- 
ters will come to him, bearing their children on their 
backs.” 

“Though a man may be able to recite the three hun- 
dred odes, yet if, when intrusted with a governmental 
charge, he knows not how to act, or if, when sent to any 
quarter on a mission, he cannot give his replies unas- 


ON GOVERNMENT. 121 


sisted, notwithstanding the extent of his Learning, of what 
practical use is it?” 

“When a prince’s personal conduct is correct, his gov- 
ernment is effective without the issuing of orders. If his 
personal conduct is not correct, he may issue orders, but 
they will not be followed.” 

When the Master went to Wei, Yen Yew acted as dri- 
ver of his carriage. 

The Master observed, “ How numerous are the peo- 
ple!” 

Yew said, “Since they are thus numerous, what more 
shall be done for them?” “Enrich them,” was the re- 
ply. 

“ And when they have been enriched, what more shall 
be done?” ‘The Master said, “Teach them.” 

“<“Tf good men were to govern a country 7” succession 
for a hundred years, they would be able to transform the 
violently bad, and dispense with capital punishments.’ 
True, indeed, is this saying!” 

“Tf a minister make his own conduct correct, what 
difficulty will he have in assisting in government? If he 
cannot rectify himself, what has he to do with rectifying 
others ?” | 

The duke of Shé asked about government. , 

The Master said, “Good government obtains, when those 
who are near are made happy, and those who are far off 
are attracted.” 

Héen asked what was shameful. The Master said, 
“When good government prevails in a State, 0 be think- 
ing only of his salary ; and, when bad government pre- 
vails, to be thinking, in the same way, only of his salary: 
this is shameful.” 

6 


I22 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


The Master said, “When rulers love Zo observe the 
rules of propriety, the people respond readily to the calls 
on them for service.” 

The duke Ling of Wei asked Confucius about tactics. 
Confucius replied, “I have heard all about sacrificial ves- 
sels, but I have not learned military matters.” On this, 
he took his departure the next day.* 

Chow conferred great gifts, and the good were en- 
riched. 

“ Although he has his near relatives, they are not equal 
to very virtuous men. ‘The people are throwing blame 
upon me, the one man.” 

He carefully attended to the weights and measures, ex- 
amined the body of the laws, restored the discarded offi- 
cers, and the good government of the empire took its 
course. 

He revived States that had been extinguished, restored 
families whose line of succession had been broken, and 
called to office those who had retired into obscurity, so 
that throughout the empire the hearts of the people 
turned towards him. 

What he attached chief importance to were, the food 
of the people, the duties of mourning, and sacrifices. 

By his generosity, he won all. By his sincerity, he 
made the people repose trust in him. By his earnest ac- 
tivity, his achievements were great. By his justice, all 
were delighted. 





* He wished, by his reply and departure, to teach the duke that 
the rules of propriety, and not war, were essential to the govern- 
ment of a State. 


ON GOVERNMENT. 123 


INSTRUCTIONS FOR PRINCES AND MINISTERS. 


The duke Ting asked how a prince should employ 
his ministers, and how ministers should serve their prince. 
Confucius replied, “ A prince should employ his minis- 
ters according to the rules of propriety ; ministers should 
serve their prince with faithfulness.” 

The Master said, “Is @ prince able to govern his king- 
dom with the complaisance proper to the rules of pro- 
priety, what difficulty will he have? If he cannot govern 
it with that complaisance, what has he to do with the 
rules of propriety ?” 

Tsze-chang asked, saying, “The minister Tsze-wan 
thrice took office, and manifested no joy in his counte- 
nance. ‘Thrice he retired from office, and manifested no 
displeasure. He made it a point to inform the new min- 
ister of the way in which he had conducted the govern- 
ment ; what do you say of him?” ‘The Master replied, 
“ He was loyal.” “Was he perfectly virtuous?” “TI do 
not know. How can he be pronounced perfectly virtu- 
ous ?” 

The Master said, “What is called a great minister is 
one who serves his prince according to what is right, and 
when he finds he cannot do so, retires.” 

“A minister, in serving his prince, reverently dis- 
charges his duties, and makes his emolument a sec- 
ondary consideration.” 

Tsze-hea said, “The officer, having discharged all his 
duties, should devote his leisure to learning. The stu- 
dent, having completed his learning, should apply himself 
to be an officer.” 


iz4 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


EXAMPLES OF WELL GOVERNED STATES. 


Tsze-chang asked Confucius, saying, “In what way 
should @ person in authority act in order that he may 
conduct government properly?” The Master replied, 
“ Let him honor the five excellent, and banish away the 
four bad things ; then may he conduct government prop- 
erly.” Tsze-chang said, “What are meant by the five 
excellent things?” The Master said, “ When the person 
in authority is beneficent without great expenditure ; 
when he lays tasks on the people without their repining ; 
when he pursues what he desires without being cov- 
etous; when he maintains a dignified ease without being 
proud ; when he is majestic without being fierce.” 

Tsze-chang said, “ What is meant by being beneficent 
without great expenditure?” The Master replied, “When 
the person in authozity makes more beneficial to the peo- 
ple the things from which they naturally derive benefit ; 
is not this being. beneficent without great expenditure ? 
When he chooses the laborers which are proper, and 
makes them labor on them, who will repine? When his 
desires are set on benevolent government, and he realizes 
it, who will accuse him of covetousness? Whether he has 
to do with many people or few, or with things great or 
small, he does not dare to indicate any disrespect ; is not 
this to maintain a dignified ease without any pride? 
He adjusts his clothes and cap, and throws a dignity 
into his looks, so that, thus dignified, he is looked at 
with awe ; is not this to be majestic without being fierce ?” 

Tsze-chang then asked, “ What are meant by the four 
bad things?” The Master said, “'To put the people to 


ON GOVERNMENT, 125 


death without having instructed them ; this is called cru- 
elty. To require from them suddenly the full tale of 
work, without having given them warning ; this is called 
oppression. To issue orders as if without urgency a¢ first, 
and, when the time comes, Zo insist on them with severity ; 
this is called injury. And, generally speaking, to give 
pay or rewards to men, and yet to do it in a stingy way ; 
this is called acting the part of a mere official.” 


126 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


CHAPTER VT. 


MAXIMS. 


The Master said, “ Things that are done, it is needless 
to speak about; things that have had their course, it is 
needless to remonstrate about; things that are past, it is 
needless to blame.” 

“When we see men of worth, we should think of 
equaling them ; when we see men of a contrary charac- 
ter, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.” 

Tsze-loo said, “If you had the conduct of the armies 
of a great State, whom would you have to act with you?” 

The Master said, “I would not have him to act with 
me, who will unarmed attack a tiger, or cross a river 
without a boat, dying without any regret. My associate 
must be the man who proceeds to action full of solici- 
tude, who is fond of adjusting his plans, and then carries 
them into execution.” 

“The people may be made to follow a path of action, 
but they may not be made to understand it.” 

“The man who is fond of daring and is dissatisfied 
with poverty, will proceed to insubordination. So will 
the man who is not virtuous, when you carry your dis- 
like of him to an extreme.” 

“Though a man have abilities as admirable as those 


MAXIMS. 127 


of the duke of Chow, yet if he be proud and niggardly, 
those other things are really not worth being looked at.” 

“ He who is not in any particular office, has nothing 
‘to do with plans for the administration of its duties.’”* 

“The wise are free from perplexities ; the virtuous 
from anxiety ; and the bold from fear.” 

“ Do not be desirous to have things done quickly ; do 
not look at small advantages. Desire to have things done 
quickly prevents their being done thoroughly. Looking 
at small advantages prevents great affairs from being 
accomplished.” 

Tsze-Kung asked, saying, “ What do you say of a man 
who is loved by all the people of his village?” The 
Master replied, “ We may not for that accord our ap- 
proval of him.” “And what do you say of him who is 
hated by all the people of his village?” ‘The Master 
said, “ We may not for that conclude that he is bad. It 
is better than either of these cases that the good in the 
village love him, and the bad hate him.”f 

The Master said, “To lead an uninstructed peopie to 
war, is to throw them away.” f 

“To be poor without murmuring is difficult. To be 
rich without being proud is easy.” 

“He who speaks without modesty will find it difficult 
to make his words good.” 

“Tf a man take no thought about what is distant, he 
will find sorrow near at hand.” 

“He who requires much from himself and little from 





* Every man should mind his own business. 


t To judge of a man from the likings and dislikings of others, 
we must know the character of those others. 


128 CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 


others, will keep himself from being the object of resent- 
ment.” 

“When the multitude hate a man, it is necessary to 
examine into the case. When the multitude like a man, 
it is necessary to examine into the case.” 

“To have faults and not to reform them—this, indeed, 
should be pronounced having faults.” 

“Those whose courses are different cannot lay plans 
for one another.” 

“Why use an ox-knife to kill a fowl?” (Dispropor- 
tioned effort.) 

“Tt is according to the rules of propriety,’ they say. 
‘It is according to the rules of propriety’ they say: Are 
gems and silk, all that is meant by propriety? ‘It is 
Music,’ they say. ‘It is Music,’ they say: Are bells and 
drums, all that is meant by music? ’”* 

“When a man at forty is the object of dislike, he will 
always continue what he is.” 

“The mean man is sure to gloss his faults, 

“ When you have found out the truth of azy accusation, 
be grieved for and pity them, and do not feel joy at your 
own ability.” 

“The superior man hates to dwell in a low lying: situ- 
ation, where all the evil of the world will flow in upon 

him.” 
_ For one word, a man is offen deemed to be wise, and 





* It is not the external appurtenances which constitute propri- 
ety; nor the sound of instruments, which constitutes music, 


t “ A low lying situation,” to which the streams flow and waters 
drain, representing here a bad reputation, which gets the credit of 
every vice. 


MAXIMS. 129 


for one word he is often deeined to be foolish. We ought 
to be careful indeed in what we say.” 


DETACHED SENTENCES, 


The Master said, “The reason why the ancients did 
not readily give utterance to their words was, that they 
feared lest their actions should not come up to them.” 

“ The cautious seldom err.” 

“What is the good of being ready with the tongue? 
They who meet men with smartness of speech, for the 
most part procure themselves hatred. I know not 
whether he be truly virtuous, but why should he show 
readiness of the tongue ?” 

Ke Wan thought twice, and then acted. When the 
Master was informed of it, he said, “Twice may do.”* 

The Master asked Kung-ming Kea about Kung-shuh 
Wan, saying, “Is it true that your Master speaks not, 
laughs not, and takes not?” 

Kung-ming Kea replied, “ This has arisen from the 
reporters going beyond “he truth. My Master speaks 
when it is the time to speak, and so men do not get tired 
of his speaking. He laughs when there is occasion to 
be joyful, and so men do not get tired of his laughing. 
He takes when it is consistent with righteousness to do 
so, and so men do not get tired of his taking.” f 





* Think twice before you speak once. 


t There is a time for all things. 


o* 


139 THE GREAT LEARNING. 


BOOK II. 


TAI HOH, OR THE GREAT LEARNING. 


My master, the philosopher Cl’ing, says: “ The Great 
Learning is a book left by Confucius, and forms the gate 
by which first learners enter into virtue. That we can 
now perceive the order in which the ancients pursued their 
learning is solely owing to the preservation of this work, the 
Anatects and Mencius coming after it. Learners must 
commence their course with this, and then it may be hoped 
they will be kept from error.” 

What the Great Learning teaches is, to wlustrate ilus- 
trious virtue, to renovate the people, and to rest in the 
highest excellence. 7 

The point where to rest being known, the object of pursuit 
is then determined ; and that being determined, a calm and 
unperturbedness may be attained. To that calmness there 
qwill succeed a tranquil repose. In that repose there may be 
careful deliberation, and that deliberation will be followed 
by the attainment of the desired end. 


SELF-CONTROL A PREREQUISITE TO GOVERNMENT. I31 


CHAPTER I. 


HE WHO WOULD GOVERN WELL A FAMILY MUST HIM- 
SELF FIRST BECOME CORRECT; TO GOVERN WELL A 
STATE, LET THE FAMILY FIRST BE REGULATED. 


Things have their root and their completion. Affairs 
have their end and their beginning. ‘To know-what is 
first and what is last will lead near to what is taught zz 
the Great Learning. 


The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue 
throughout the empire, first ordered well their own 
States. Wishing to order well their States, they first 
regulated their families. Wishing to regulate their fam- 
ilies, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing to cul- 
tivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. 
Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first thought to be 
sincere in their thoughts. Wishing to be sincere in their 
thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowl- 
edge. Such extension of knowledge lay in the investi- 
gation of things. 

_ Things being investigated, knowledge became com- 
plete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts 
were sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts 


132. THE GREAT LEARNING. 


_ were then rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their 
persons were cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, 
their families were regulated. Their families being reg- 
ulated, their States were rightly governed. Their States 
being rightly governed, the whole empire was made tran- 
quil and happy. 

From the emperor down to the mass of the people, all 
must consider the cultivation of the person the root of 
everything besides. 

It cannot be, when the root is neglected, that what 
should spring from it will be well ordered. It never has 
been the case that what was of great importance has 
been slightly cared for, and at the same time that what 
was of slight importance has been greatly cared for. 

What is meant by “In order rightly to govern his 
State, it is necessary first to regulate his family,” is this: 
It is not possible for one to teach others, while he can- 
not teach his own family. Therefore the ruler, without 
going beyond his family, completes the lessons for the 
State. There is filial piety; therewith the sovereign 
should be served. There is fraternal submission ; there- 
with elders and superiors should be served. There is 
kindness ; therewith the multitude should be treated. 

Yaou and Shun led on the empire with benevolence, 
and the people followed them. Kéé and Chow led on 
the empire with violence, and the people followed them. 
The orders which these issued were contrary to the prac- 
tices which they loved, and so the people did not follow 
them. On this account, the ruler must himself be pos- 
sessed of the good qualities, and then he may require them 
in the people. He must not have she bad qualities in 
himself, and then he may require that they shall not be 


SELF-CONTROL A PREREQUISITE TO GOVERNMENT. 133 


in the people. Never has there been a man, who, not 
having reference to his own character and wishes in deal- 
ing with others, was able effectually to instruct them. 

Thus we see how the government of the State depends 
on the regulation of the family. 

In the Book of Poetry, it is said, “In his deportment 
there is nothing wrong ; he rectifies all the people of the 
State.” Yes; when the ruler, as a father, a son, anda 
brother, is a model, then the people imitate him. 


WHAT THE RULER WOULD HAVE HIS PEOPLE DO, HE MUST 
DO HIMSELF ; WHAT HE WOULD HAVE THEM BE, HE 
MUST BE HIMSELF. 


What is meant by “The making the whole empire 
peaceful and happy depends on the government of his 
State,” is this : When the sovereign behaves to his aged, 
as the aged should be behaved to, the people become 
filial ; when the sovereign behaves to his elders, as eld- 
ers should be behaved to, the people learn brotherly sub- 
mission ; when the sovereign treats compassionately the 
young and helpless, the people do the same. Thus the 
ruler has a principle: with which, as with a measuring 
square, he may regulate his conduct. 

What a man dislikes in his superiors, let him not dis- 
play in the treatment of his inferiors ; what he dislikes 
in inferiors, let him not display in the service of his su- 
‘periors ; what he hates in those who are before him, let 
him not therewith precede those who are behind him; 
what he hates in those who are behind him, let him not 
therewith follow those who are before him ; what he hates 
to receive on the right, let him not bestow on the left ; 


134 THE GREAT LEARNING. 


what he hates to receive on the left, let him not bestow 
on the right: this is what is called “ The principle with 
which, as with a measuring square, to regulate one’s con- 
duct.” 

In the Book of Poetry, it is said, “ How much to be 
rejoiced in are these princes, the parents of the people !” 
When a prince loves what the people love, and hates 
what the people hate, then is he what is called the parent 
of the people. 

Never has there been a case of the sovereign loving 
benevolence, and the people not loving righteousness. 
Never has there been a case where the people have loved 
righteousness, and the affairs of the sovereign have not 
been carried to completion. And never has there been 
a case where the wealth in such a State, collected in the 
treasuries and arsenals, did not continue in the sover- 
eign’s possession. 


OFFICES NOT TO BE SOUGHT FOR EMOLUMENTS. 135 


CHAPTER II. 


WHAT BECOMES OF A STATE WHEN OFFICES ARE SOUGHT 
PRINCIPALLY BECAUSE OF THEIR EMOLUMENTS. 


The ruler will first take pains about A7zs own virtue. 
Possessing virtue will give him the people. Possessing 
the people will give him the territory. Possessing the 
territory will give him its wealth. Possessing the wealth, 
he will have resources for expenditure. 

Virtue is the root ; wealth is the result. 

If he make the root his secondary object, and the re- 
sult his primary, he will o#/y wrangle with his people, and 
teach them rapine. 

Hence, the accumulation of wealth is the way to scat- 
ter the people ; and the letting it be scattered among 
them is the way to collect the people. 

And hence, the ruler’s words going forth contrary to 
right, will come back to him in the same way, and wealth 
gotten by improper ways will take its departure by the 
same.* 





* He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which 
he made. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his 
violent dealings shall come down upon his own pate. Wealth got- 
ten by vanity shall be diminished.— Scripture. 


136 THE GREAT LEARNING. 


In the declaration of the duke of Ts’in, it is said, “ Let 
me have but one minister, plain and sincere, not pretend- 
ing to other abilities, but with a simple, upright mind ; 
and possessed of generosity, regarding the talents of oth- 
ers as though he himself possessed them, and where he 
finds accomplished and perspicacious men, loving them 
in his heart more than his mouth expresses, and really 
showing himself able to bear them and employ them: 
such a minister will be able to preserve my sons and 
grandsons, and black-haired people,* and benefits like- 
wise to the kingdom may be looked for from him. But if 
it be his character, when he finds men of ability, to be 
jealous and hate them ; and when he finds accomplished 
and perspicacious men, to oppose them, and not allow 
their advancement, showing himself really not able to 
bear them : such a minister will not be able to protect 
my sons and grandsons, and black-haired people ; and 
may he not also be pronounced dangerous /o the State?” 

To see men of worth, and not be able to raise them to 
office ; to raise them to office, but not to do so quickly: 
this is disrespectful. ‘To see bad men, and not be able 
to remove them ; to remove them, but not to do so toa 
distance : this is weakness. 

To love those whom men hate, and to hate those whom 
men love: this is to outrage the natural feeling of men. 
Calamities cannot fail to come down on him who does so. 

There is a great course, a/so, for the production of 
wealth. Let the producers be many, and the consumers 
few. Let there be activity in the production, and econ- 





* Black-haired people designates the middle-aged men. Chi- 
nese universally have black hair, until age turns it gray. 


“ 


OFFICES NOT TO BE SOUGHT FOR EMOLUMENTS. 137 


omy in the expenditure. Then the wealth will always be 
sufficient. ’ 

The virtuous ruler, by means of his wealth, makes 
himself more distinguished. The vicious ruler accu- 
mulates wealth at the expense of his life. 

When he who presides over a State or a family makes 
his revenues his chief business, he must be under the 
influence of some small, mean man. He may consider 
this man to be good ; but when such a person is employed 
in the administration of a State or family, calamities 
Srom Heaven and injuries from men will befall it together, 
and though a good man may take his place, he will not 
be able to remedy the evil. This illustrates again the 
saying, “In a State, gain is not to be considered pros- 
perity, but its prosperity will be found in righteousness.” 


138 THE GREAT LEARNING, 


CHAPTER III. 


SELF CULTURE. 


On the bathing-tub of T’ang, the following words were 
engraved : “ If you can one day renovate yourself, do so 
from day to day. Yea, let there be daily renovation.” 

In the Book of Poetry it is said, “ Profound was King 
W’an. With how bright and unceasing a feeling of rev- 
erence did he regard his resting places!” As a sover- 
eign, he rested in benevolence. As a minister, he rested 
in reverence. As a son, he rested in filial piety. Asa 
father he rested in kindness. In communication with 
his subjects, he rested in good faith. 

In the Book of Poetry, it is said, “ Look at that wind- 
ing course of the K’e, with the green bamboos so luxu- 
riant! Here is our elegant and accomplished prince! 
As we cut, and then file ; as we chisel and then grind: 
so has he cultivated himseif. ow grave is he, and dig- 
nified ! How majestic and distinguished! Our elegant 
and accomplished prince never can be forgotten.” Zzhat 
expression, “as we cut, and then file,” indicates the work 
of learning ; “as we chisel, and then grind,” indicates 
that of self-culture. ‘ How grave is he, and dignified!” 
indicates the feeling of cautious reverence. “ How com- 


SELF-CULTURE. 139 


manding and distinguished,” indicates an awe-inspiring 
deportment. “Our elegant and accomplished prince 
never can be forgotten,” indicates how, when virtue is 
complete and excellence extreme, the people cannot for- 
get them. 

What is meant by “ The cultivation of the person de- 
pends on rectifying the mind,” may be thus ilustrated: 

If a man be under the influence of passion, he will be 
incorrect in his conduct. He will be the same if he is 
under the influence of terror, or under the influence of 
fond regard, or under that of sorrow and distress. 

When the mind is not present, we look, and do not 
see ; we hear, and do not understand ; we eat, and do 
not know the taste of what we eat. 

This is what is meant by saying that the cultivation of 
the person depends on the rectifying »f the mind. 

What is meant by “ The regulation of one’s family de- 
pends on the cultivation of his person,” is this: Men 
are partial where they feel affection and love ; partial, 
where they despise and dislike ; partial, where they stand 
in awe and reverence ; partial, where they feel sorrow and 
compassion ; partial, where they are arrogant and rude. 
Thus it is that there are few men in the world who love, 
and at the same time know the bad qualities of the object 
of their love, or who hate, and yet know the excellence 

of the object of their hatred. 

_ Hence it is said, in the common adage, “ A man does 
not know the wickedness of his son; he does not know 
the richness of his growing corn.” 


I40 THE GREAT LEARNING. 


ON HAVING THE THOUGHTS SINCERE. 


What is meant by “ making the thoughts sincere,” is 
the allowing no self-deception, as when we hate a bad 
odor, and as when we love what is beautiful. This is 
called selfenjoyment. ‘Therefore the superior man must 
be watchful over himself when he is alone. 

There is no evil to which the mean man, dwelling re- 
tired, will not proceed, but when he sees a superior man 
he instantly tries to disguise himself, concealing his evil, 
and displaying what is good. The other beholds him, as 
if he saw his heart and veins; of what use zs Ais disguise? 
This is an instance of the saying—“ What truly is within 
will be manifested without.” Therefore, the superior 
man must be watchful over himself when he is alone. 

Riches adorn a house, and virtue adorns the person. 
The mind is expanded, and the body is at ease. There- 
fore, the superior man must make his thoughts sincere. 


PROLEGOMENA. 141 


BOOK III, 


THE CHUNG YUNG, OR THE DOCTRINE OF 
THE MEAN. 





PROLEGOMENA BY THE PHILOSOPHER CH’ING. 


My master, the philosopher Ching, says: “Being without 
inclination to either side is called CHUNG ; admitting of no 
change is called YUNG. By CHUNG ts denoted the direct 
course to be pursued by all under heaven ; by YUNG ts de- 
noted the fixed principle regulating all under heaven. This 
work contains the law of the mind, which was handed down 
Srom one to another, in the Confucian school, till Tsze-sze, 
Searing lest in the course of time errors should arise about 
at, committed it to writing, and delivered it to Mencius. The 
book first speaks of one principle; it next spreads this out, 
and embraces all things; finally, it returns and gathers 
them all up under one principle. Unroll it, and it fills the 
universe; roll it up, and it retires and lies hid in mysteri- 
ousness. The relish of it is inexhaustible. The whole of it 
is solid learning. When the skillful reader has explored it 
with delight till he has apprehended it, he may carry it into 
practice all his life, and will find that it cannot be exhausted. 


I42 THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. 


CHAPTER I. 
TAE PATH OF DUTY—ITS ORIGIN IN HEAVEN, 


A doctrine extensively taught in this third book is, 
that man by nature is originally good, having the nature 
he received from heaven ; and conduct in accordance with - 
that nature constitutes what is right and true. 


What heaven has conferred is called THE NATURE; an 
accordance with this nature is called THE PATH OF DUTY; 
the regulation of this path is called INSTRUCTION. 

The path may not be left for an instant. If it could 
be left, it would not be the path. On this account, the 
superior man does not wait till he sees things, to be cau- 
tious ; nor till he hears things, to be apprehensive. 

While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, 
or joy, the mind may be said to be in a state of EQUILIB- 
RiuM. When those feelings have been stirred; and they 
act in their due degree, there ensues what may be called 
the state of HARMONY. 

This EQUILIBRIUM is the great root from which grow 
all the human actings in the world, and this HARMONY is 
the universal path which they all should pursue. 

Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in per- 


~: 
"ae 


THE PATH OF DUTY—ITS ORIGIN IN HEAVEN. 143 


fection, and a happy order will prevail throughout heaven 
and earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish.* 


CONFUCIUS AFFIRMS THAT HEAVEN HAS CONFERRED A PER- 
FECT NATURE UPON ALL, YET MOURNS THAT THE PATH 
OF THE PERFECT NATURE IS UNTRODDEN. 


The Master said, “ Perfect is the virtue which is ac- 
cording to the Mean! Rare have they long been among 
the people, who could practice it!” 

“T know how it is that the path of the Mean is not 
walked in: the knowing go beyond it, and the stupid 
do not come up to it. I know how it is that the path of 
the Mean is not understood: the men of talents and vir- 
tue go beyond it, and the worthless do not come up to it.” 

“Alas! How is the path of the Mean untrodden !” 

“Men all say, ‘We are wise ;’ but being driven for- 
ward, and taken in a net, a trap, or a pitfall, they know 
not how to escape. Men all say, ‘We are wise ;’ but 
happening to choose the course of the Mean, they are 
not able to keep it for a round month.” 

“The empire, its States, and its families, may be per- 
fectly ruled ; dignities and emoluments may be declined ; 
naked weapons may be trampled under the feet ; but the 
course of the Mean cannot be attained to.” 

“The path is not far from man. When men try to 
pursue a course which is far from the common indica- 





* By heaven and earth are here meant what were supposed to be 
the parent powers of the universe, on which depend the generation 
and nourishing of all things. 


Pe ae THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. 


tions of consciousness, this course cannot be considered 
THE PATH.’* 


THE GOLDEN RULE NEGATIVELY AND POSITIVELY EX-~ 
PRESSED. CONFUCIUS CONFESSES THAT HE HAS NOT 
ATTAINED To IT. 


“When one cultivates to the utmost the principles of 
his nature, and exercises them on the principle of reci- 
procity, he is not far from the path. What you do not 
like, when done to yourself, do not do to others.” 

“In the way of the superior man there are four things, 
to not one of which have I as yet attained. To serve my 
father, as I would require my son to serve me: to this I 
have not attained. ‘To serve my prince, as I would re- 
quire my minister to serve me: to this I have not attained. 
To serve my elder brother as I would require my young- 
er brother to serve me: to this I have not attained. To 
set the example in behaving to a friend, as I would re- 
quire him to behave to me: to this I have not attained. 
Earnest in practicing the ordinary virtues, and careful in 
speaking about them, if, in his practice, he has anything 
defective, the superior man dares not but exert himself ; 
and if, in his words, he has any excess, he dares not 
allow himself such license. Thus his words have respect 
to his actions, and his actions have respect to his words: 
is it not just an entire sincerity which marks the superior 
man?” 





* The path of the Mean is not far to seek. Each man has the 
law of it in himself, and it is to be pursued with earnest sincerity. 


THE PATH OF DUTY—ITS ORIGIN IN HEAVEN. 145 


DISCHARGE WITH CHEERFULNESS THE DUTIES OF YOUR 
STATION, NOR MURMUR AT THE APPOINTMENTS OF 
HEAVEN. 


The superior man does what is proper to the station 
in which he is ; he does not desire to go beyond this. 

In a position of wealth and honor he does what is 
proper to a position of wealth and honor. In a poor 
and low position, he does what is proper to a poor and 
low position. Situated among barbarous tribes, he does 
what is proper to a situation among barbarous tribes. In 
a position of sorrow and difficulty, he does what is proper 
to a position of sorrow and difficulty. The superior 
-man can find himself in no situation in which he is not 
himself. 

In a high situation, he does not treat with contempt 
his inferiors. In a low situation, he does not court the 
favor of his superiors. He rectifies himself, and seeks 
for nothing from others, so that he has no dissatisfac- 
tions. He does not murmur against heaven, nor grum- 
ble against men. 

Thus it is that the superior man is quiet and calm, 
waiting for the appointments of Heaven ; while the mean 
man walks in dangerous paths, looking for lucky occur- 
rences. 

The Master said, “ In archery, we have something like 
the way of the superior man. When the archer misses 
the center of the target, he turns round and seeks for the 
cause of his failure in himself.” 


7 


146 TIE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN, 


CHAPTER II. 


A PORTRAITURE OF THE PERFECT MAN WHO WALKS IN 
THE PATH OF THE MEAN. 


“The superior man cultivates a friendly harmony, with- 
out being weak. . How firm is he in his energy! He 
stands erect in the middle, without inclining to either 
side. How firm is he in his energy! When good princi- 
ples prevail in the government of his country, he does 
not change from what he was in retirement. How firm 
is he in his energy! When bad principles prevail in the 
country, he maintains his course to death without chang- 
ing. How firm is he in his energy!” 

“The superior man accords with the course of the 
Mean. ‘Though he may be all unknown, unregarded by 
the world, he feels no regrets. It is only the sage who 
is able for this.” 

The way which the superior man pursues, reaches wide 
and far, and yet is secret. 

Common men and women, however ignorant, may in- 
termeddle with the knowledge of it ; yet in its utmost 
reaches, there is that which even the sage does not know. 
Common men and women, however much below the or- 
dinary standard of character, can carry it into practice; 


PORTRAITURE OF THE PERFECT MAN. 147 


yet in its utmost reaches, there is that which even the 
sage is not able to carry into practice. Great as heaven 
and earth are, men still find some things in them with 
which to be dissatisfied. Thus it is, that were the supe- 
rior man to speak of his way in all its greatness, nothing 
in the world would be found able to embrace it ; and were 
he to speak of it in its minuteness, nothing in the world 
would be found able to split it. 

The way of the superior man may be compared to 
what takes place in traveling, when to go to a distance, 
we must first traverse the space that is near, and in as- 
cending a height, we must begin from the lower ground. 

It is said in the Book of Poetry, “Although ‘he fish sink 
and lie at the bottom, it is still quite clearly seen.” 
Therefore the superior man examines his heart, that there 
may be nothing wrong there, and that he may have no 
cause for dissatisfaction with himself. ‘That wherein the 
superior man cannot be equaled is simply this: his zor, 
which other men cannot see. 

It is said in the Book of Poetry, “ Looked at in your 
apartment, be there free from shame, where you are ex- 
posed to the light of heaven.” Therefore, the superior 
man, even when he is not moving, has a feeling of rever- 
erence, and while he speaks not, he has the feeling of 
thoughtfulness. 

Sincerity is the way of heaven. The -attainment of 
sincerity is the way of men. He who possesses sincerity 
is he who, without an effort, hits what is right, and appre- 
hends, without the exercise of thought ; he is the sage 
who naturally and easily embodies the 7zgh¢ way. He 
who attains to sincerity is he who chooses what is good, 
and firmly holds it fast. 


148 THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. 


“To this attainment there are requisite the extensive 
study of what is good, accurate inquiry about it, careful 
reflection on it, the clear discrimination of it, and the 
earnest practice of it.” 


CONFUCIUS THE EQUAL OF HEAVEN. 


Confucius is by his disciples set up as the pattern of 
the perfectly sincere man,.and is compared to heaven and 
earth. Heaven and earth are worshiped as divine, and 


so is Confucius. 


Chung-ne ( Chung-ne, the marriage name of Confucius ) 
handed down the doctrines of Yaou and Shun, as if they 
had been his ancestors, and elegantly displayed the reg- 
ulations of Wan and Woo, taking them as his model. 
Above, he harmonized with the times of heaven, and be- 
low, he was conformed to the water and land. 

He may be compared to heaven and earth, in their 
supporting and containing, their overshadowing and cur- 
taining all things. He may be compared to the four 
seasons in their alternating progress, and to the sun and 
moon in their successive shining. 

All-embracing and vast, he is like heaven. Deep and 
active as a fountain, he is like the abyss. He is seen, 
and the people all reverence him ; he speaks, and the 
people all believe him : he acts, and the people all are 
pleased with him. ‘Therefore his fame overspreads the 
Middle Kingdom, and extends to all barbarous tribes. 
Wherever ships and carriages reach; wherever the strength 


PORTRAITURE OF THE PERFECT MAN. 149 


of man penetrates ; wherever the heavens overshadow 
and the earth sustains ; wherever the sun and moon shine ; 
wherever frosts and dews fall: all who have blood and 
breath unfeignedly honor and love him. Hence it is 
said, “ He is the equal of heaven.” 

It is only the individual possessed of the most entire 
sincerity that can exist under heaven, who can adjust the 
great invariable relations of mankind, establish the great 
fundamental virtues of humanity, and know the trans- 
forming and nurturing operations of Heaven and Earth: 
shall this individual have any being or anything beyond 
himself on which he depends? 

Call him man in his ideal, how earnest is he! Call 
him an abyss, how deep is he! Call him heaven, how 
vast is he! 

Who can know him but he who is indeed quick in ap- 
prehension, clear in discernment, of far-reaching intelli- 
gence, and all-embracing knowledge, possessing all 
heavenly virtue? 


150 THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. 


CHAPTER III. 
STANDARD RULES FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE EMPIRE, 


“ All who have the government of the empire with its 
States and families, have nine standard rules to follow, 
viz: the cultivation of their own characters ; the honor- 
ing of men of virtue and talents ; affection towards their 
relatives ; respect toward the great ministers ; kind and 
considerate treatment of the whole body of officers ; deal- 
ing with the mass of the people as children ; encourag- 
ing the resort of all classes of artisans ; indulgent treat- 
ment of men from a distance ; and the kindly cherishing 
of the princes of the State. 

“ By the ruler’s cultivation of his own character, the 
duties of universal obligation are set forth. By honoring 
men of virtue and talents, he is preserved from errors of 
judgment. By showing affection to his relatives, there is 
no grumbling nor resentment among his uncles and breth- 
ren. By respecting the great ministers, he is kept from 
errors in the practice of government. By kind and con- 
siderate treatment of the whole body of officers, they are 
led to make the most grateful return for his courtesies. By ~ 
dealing with the mass of the people as his children, they 


STANDARD RULES FOR GOVERNING AN EMPIRE. I51 


are led to exhort one another to what is good. By en- 
couraging the resort of all classes of artisans, his resources 
for expenditure are rendered ample. By indulgent treat- 
ment of men from a distance, they are brought to resort 
to him from all quarters. And by kindly cherishing the 
princes of the State, the whole empire is brought to re- 
vere him. 

“ Self-adjustment and purification, with careful regula- 
tion of his dress, and the not making a movement con- 
trary to the rules of propriety: this is the way for the 
tuler to cultivate his person. Discarding slanderers, and 
keeping himself from the seductions of beauty ; making 
light of riches, and giving honor to virtue: this is the 
way for him to encourage men of worth and talents. 
Giving them places of honor, and large emoluments, and 
sharing with them in their likes and dislikes : this is the 
way for him to encourage his relatives to love him. Giv- 
ing them numerous officers to discharge their orders and 
commissions : this is the way for him to encourage the 
great ministers. According to them a generous confi- 
dence, and making their emoluments large: this is the 
way to encourage the body of officers. Employing them 
only at the proper times, and making the imposts light : 
this is the way to encourage the people. By daily exam- 
inations and monthly trials, and by making their rations 
in accordance with their labors: this is the way to en- 
courage the classes of artisans. To escort them on their 
departure, and meet them on their coming ; to commend 
the good among them, and show compassion to the incom- 
petent : this is the way to treat indulgently men from a 
distance. To restore families whose line of succession 
has been broken, and to revive States that have been ex- 


152 THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. 


tinguished ; to reduce to order States that are in confu- 
sion, and support those which are in peril : to have fixed 
times for their own reception at court, and the reception 
of their envoys ; to send them away after liberal treat- 
ment, and welcome their coming with small contribu- 
tions: this is the way to cherish the princes of the 
States.” . 


RELIGION. 153 


CIIAPTER IV. 





RELIGION. 





FILIAL SERVICE DUE TO THE DEAD AS TO THE LIVING. 


The Master said, “ How far extending was the filial 
piety of king Woo and the duke of Chow! 

“ Now, filial piety is seen in the skillful carrying out 
of the wishes of our forefathers, and the skillful carrying 
forward of their undertakings. 

“In spring and autumn, they repaired and beautified 
the temple-halls of their fathers, set forth their ancestral 
vessels, displayed their various robes, and presented the 
offerings of the several seasons. 

“ By means of the ceremonies of the ancestral temple, 
they distinguished the imperial kindred according to their 
order of descent. 

“They occupied the places of their forefathers, prac- 
ticed their ceremonies, and performed their music. They > 
reverenced those whom they honored, and loved those 
whom they regarded with affection. ‘Thus they served 
the dead as they would have served them alive ; they 

* 


154 THE DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. 


served the departed as they would have served them had 
they been continued among them.* 

“By the ceremonies of the sacrifices to Heaven and 
Earth they served God, and by the ceremonies. of the 
ancestral temple they sacrificed to their ancestors. He 
who understands the ceremonies of the sacrifices to 
Heaven and Earth, and the meaning: of the several sac- 
rifices to ancestors, would find the government of a king- 
dom as easy as to look into his palm.” 


OF SPIRITS. 


The Master said, “ How abundantly do spiritual beings 
display the powers that belong to them ! 

“We look for them, but we do not see them ; we listen 
to, but do not hear them ; yet they enter into all things, 
and there is nothing without them. 

“They cause all the people in the empire to fast and 
purify themselves, and array themselves in their richest 
dresses, in order to attend at their sacrifices. Then, like 
overflowing water, they seem to be over the heads, and 
on the right and left of heir worshipers.” 

It is said in the Book of Poetry, “The approaches of 





* How faithfully has this instruction been repeated and obeyed 
down through a period of at least twenty-five centuries! We wit- 
ness the same at every funeral, at each anniversary of the death of 
a parent, at the morning and evening worship in the ancestral hall, 
and at the spring festival—the special season for worship of ances- 
tors, 


-RELIGION. 155 


the spirits you cannot surmise, and can you treat them 
with indifference ?” * 


ABOUT OMENS. 


It is characteristic of the most entire sincerity to be 
able to foreknow. When a nation or family is about to 
flourish, there are sure to be happy omens ; and when it 
is about to perish, there are sure to be unlucky omens. 
Such events are seen in the milfoilf and tortoise, and af- 
fect the movements of the four limbs. When calamity 
or happiness is about to come, the good shall certainly 
be foreknown by him, and the evil also. Therefore the 
individual possessed of the most complete sincerity is 
like a spirit. 





* The Chinese are all their lifetime subject to bondage because 
of their dread of spirits, and a large part of their religious cere- 
monies and offering of sacrifices is for the purpose of propitiating 
spirits, of which there are, as they suppose, many classes. 


t A sort of labiate plant like verbena, anciently used in divina- 
tivit 


155 THE DOCTRINE OF ‘tHE MEAN. 


CHAPTER V. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


od 


THE FIVE DUTIES AND THREE VIRTUES. 


“The duties of universal obligation are five, and the 
virtues wherewith they are practiced are three. The du- 
ties are those between sovereign and minister, between — 
father and son, between husband and wife, between elder 
brother and younger, and those belonging to the inter- 
course of friends. Those five are the duties of universal 
obligation. Knowledge, magnanimity, and energy, these 
three, are the virtues universally binding. And the means 
by which they carry he duties into practice is singleness. 

“ Some are born with a knowledge of those duties, some 
know them by study, and some acquire the knowledge 
after a painful feeling of their ignorance. But the knowl- 
edge being possessed, it comes to the same thing. Some 
practice them with a natural ease, some from a desire for 
their advantages, and some by strenuous effort. But the 
achievement being made, it comes to the same thing.” 


MISCELLANEOUS. 157 


DOMESTIC HAPPINESS. 


It is said in the Book of Poetry, “ Happy union with 
wife and children, is like the music of lutes and harps. 
When there is concord among brethren, the harmony is 
delightful and enduring. Zus may you regulate your 
family, and enjoy the pleasure of your wife and children.” 

The Master said, “In such a state of things, parents 
have entire complaisance.” 





“ Benevolence is the characteristic element of humanity, 
and the great exercise of it is in loving relatives. Right- 
eousness is the accordance of actions with what zs right, 
and the great exercise of it is in honoring the worthy. 
The decreasing measure of the love due to relatives, and 
the steps in the honor due to the worthy, are produced 
by the principle of propriety.” 

To no one but the emperor does it belong to order 
ceremonies, to fix the measures, and to determine the 
characters. 

Now, over the empire, carriages have all wheels of the 
same size; all writing is with the same characters ; and 
for conduct, there are the same rules. 

The Master said, “ Let a man who is ignorant be fond 
of using his own judgment ; let a man without rank be 
fond of assuming a directing power to himself; let a 
man who is living in the present age go back to the ways 
of antiquity: on the persons of all who act thus calami- 
ties will be sure to come.” 


158 MENCIUS, 


BOOK IV. 


os 


MENCIUS. 





LIFE OF MENCIUS. 


The last of the “ Four Books” is nearly as large as 
the other three united, and consists entirely of the writ- 
ings of Mencius, Ming tsz’ or Mang futsz’, as he is 
called by the Chinese. Mencius flourished about eighty 
years after the death of his master, and although in es- 
timating his character, it must not be forgotten that he 
had the advantages of his example, still in most respects 
he displayed an originality of thought, inflexibility of 
purpose, and extensive views, superior to Confucius, and 
must be regarded as one of the greatest men Asiatic na- 
tions have ever produced. An account of his life and 
writings has been drawn by Rémusat, in his usual clear 
manner, which will furnish all the data requisite. 

Mencius was born about 400 B.c., in the city of Tsau, 
-now in the province of Shantung. His father died a 
short time after his son’s birth, and left the guardianship 


LIFE OF MENCIUS. 159 


of the boy to his widow Changshi. “The care of this 
prudent and attentive mother,” to quote from Rémusat, 
“has been cited as a model for all virtuous parents. The 
house that she occupied was near that of a butcher. 
She observed at the first cry of the animals that were 
being slaughtered, the little Mang ran to be present at 
the sight, and that on his return he sought to imitate 
what he had seen. Fearful that his heart might become | 
hardened, and be accustomed to the sight of blood, she 
removed to another house, which was in the neighbor- 
hood of acemetery. The relations of those who were 
buried there came often to weep upon their graves, and 
make the customary libations. Mencius soon took pleas- 
ure in their ceremonies, and amused himself in imitating 
them. This was a new subject of uneasiness to Chang- 
shi ; she feared her son might come to consider as a jest 
iat | is of all things the most serious, and that he would 
acquire a habit of performing with levity, and as a mat- 
ter of routine merely, ceremonies which demand the most 
exact attention and respect. Again, therefore, she anx- 
iously changed her dwelling, and went to live in the city 
opposite to a school, where her son found examples the 
most worthy of imitation, and soon began to profit by 
them. I should not have spoken of this trifling anec- 
dote, but for the allusion which the Chinese constantly 
make to it in the common proverb, “‘ Formerly the moth- 
er of Mencius chose out a neighborhood.’” On another 
occasion, her son seeing persons slaughtering pigs, asked 
her why they did it. “To feed you,” she replied ; but 
reflecting that this was teaching her son to lightly regard 
the truth, went and bought some pork and gave him. 
Mencius devoted himself early to the classics, and be- 


160 MENCIUS. 


came the disciple of Tsz’-sz’, the grandson and not 
unworthy imitator of Confucius. After his studies were 
completed, he offered his services to the feudal princes 
of the country, and was received by Hwui wang, king of 
Wei: but though much respected by this ruler, his instruc- 
tions were not regarded. He saw too, ere long, that among 
the numerous petty rulers and intriguing statesmen of 
the day, there was no prospect of restoring tranquillity 
to the empire, and that discourses upon the mild govern- 
ment and peaceful virtues of Yau and Shun, king Win 
and Chingtang, offered little to interest persons whose 
minds were engrossed with schemes of conquest or 
pleasure. He therefore, at length, returned to his own 
country ; and in concert with his disciples, employed him- 
self in composing the work which bears his name, and in 
completing the editorial labors of his great predecessor. 
He died about 314 B.c., aged eighty-four years. — 

His own treatise on political morality is divided into 
two parts, which together contain fourteen short chapters, 
as they stand arranged in the Four Books of the Chinese. 
After his death, Mencius was honored by public act with 
the title of Holy Prince of the country of Tsau, and in 
the temple of the literati he receives the same honors as 
Confucius ; his descendants bear the title of Masters of 
the Traditions concerning the classics, and he himself is 
called A-shing, which signifies the Second Saint, Confu- 
cius being regarded as the first. His writings are in the 
form of dialogues held with the great personages of his 
time, and abound with irony and ridicule directed against 
vice and oppression, which only makes his praises of vir- 
tue and integrity more weighty. He contests nothing 
with his adversaries, but while he grants their premises, 


LIFE OF MENCIUS. 161 


he seeks to draw from them consequences the most ab- 
surd, which cover the opponents with confusion. 

The will of the people is, by Mencius, always referred 
to as the supreme power in the State, and he warns 
princes that they must both please and benefit their peo- 
ple, observing that “if the country is not subdued in 
heart, there will be no such thing as governing it ;” and, 
also, “ He who gains the hearts of the people, secures 
the throne, and he who loses the people’s hearts, loses 
the throne.” 

His estimate of human nature, like many of the Chi- 
nese sages, is high, believing it to be originally good, 
and “that all men are naturally virtuous as all water 
flows downward. All men have compassionate hearts, 
and feel ashamed of vice.” But he says, also, “ Shame 
is of great moment to men ; it is only the designing and 
artful that find no use for shame.” 

His own character presents traits widely differing from 
the servility and baseness usually ascribed to Asiatics, 
and especially to the Chinese ; and he seems to have 
been ready to sacrifice everything to his principles. “I 
love life, and I love justice,” he observes, “ but if I can- 
not preserve both, I would give up life, and hold fast 
justice. Although I love life, there is that which I love 
more than life ; although I hate death, there is that 
which I hate more than death.” And, as if referring to 
his own integrity, he elsewhere says, “The nature of the 
superior man is such that, although in a high and pros- 
perous situation, it adds nothing to his virtue ; and al- 
though in low and distressed circumstances, it impairs it 
in nothing.” In many points, especially in the import- 
ance he gives to filial duty, his reverence for the ancient 


162 MENCIUS. 


books and princes, and his adherence to old usages, 
Mencius imitated and upheld Confucius ; in native vigor 
and carelessness of the reproaches of his compatriots, 
he excelled him. 

Mencius, like Confucius, made large use of ancient il- 
lustrious examples, hoping thus to awaken a desire in the 
rulers of his own time to imitate the virtues of former 
ages. He often taught by means of parables, and some- 
times was drawn into disputation, as appears from the 
following quotation : 

“The disciple Kung-too said to AZencius, ‘ Master, the 
people beyond our school all speak of you as being fond 
of disputing. I venture to ask whether it be so.’ Men- 
cius replied, ‘ Indeed I am not fond of disputing, but I 
am compelled to do it.’” 

It may be interesting to notice how Mencius was ap- 
preciated by Chinese philosophers, as compared with 
Confucius. 

The philosopher Ching said, “I do not dare to say 
altogether that he was a sage, but his learning had 
reached the extremest point.” And again, “ The merit 
of Mencius in regard to the doctrine of the sages is more 
than can be told. Confucius only spoke of benevolence, 
but as soon as Mencius opens his mouth, we hear of 
benevolence and righteousness. Confucius only spoke 
of the will or mind, but Mencius enlarged also on the 
nourishment of the passion nature. In these two re- 
spects his merit was great.” “ Mencius ” (says Ching) 
“ did great service to the world by his teaching the good- 
ness of man’s nature.” | 

“Yen Yuen was but a hair’s-breadth removed from a 


LIFE OF MENCIUS. 163 


sage, while Mencius must be placed in a lower rank, a 
great worthy, an inferior sage.” 

Choo-He said, “ Mencius when compared with Confu- 
cius, always appears to speak in too lofty a style; but 
when we hear him proclaiming the goodness of man’s 
nature, and celebrating Yaou and Shun, then we likewise 
perceive the solidity of his discourses.” 


164 MENCIUS. 


CHAPTER I. 


ON GOVERNMENT. 


RULERS APPOINTED BY HEAVEN. 


Mencius said, “ He who with a great State serves a 
small one, delights in Heaven. He who with a small 
State serves a large one, stands in awe of Heaven. He 
who delights in Heaven, will affect with his love and 
protection the whole empire. He who stands in awe of 
Heaven, will affect with his love and protection his own 
kingdom.” ; 

“Tt is said in the Book of Poetry, ‘I fear the majesty 
of Heaven, and will thus preserve its favoring decree.’ ” 

“Tn the Book of History it is said, ‘Heaven having 
produced the inferior people, appointed for them rulers* 





* This may be said to be a cardinal doctrine in Chinese politics. 
fleaven, Earth, Man, are the three great powers. At first, there 
were Heaven and Zarth, but, being without speech, they needed a 
vicegerent ; therefore they created man: this J/az is the Emperor, 
who by Heaven and Earth is ordained to reign over all people 
under Heaven; hence, we find that in China divine honors are 


ON GOVERNMENT. 165 


and teachers, with the purpose that they should be assist- 
ing to God, and therefore distinguished them throughcut 
the four quarters of the empire. How dare any under 
-heaven give indulgence to their refractory wills?’ It is 
said in the Book of Poetry, 

“¢ Under the whole heaven, 

Every spot is the sovereign’s ground ; 
To the borders of the land, 
Every individual is the sovereign’s minister !’” 

Wan Chang said, “Was it the case that Yaou gave the 
empire to Shun?” Mencius said, “No. The emperor 
cannot give the empire to another.” 

“Yes; but Shun had the empire. Who gave it to 
him?” “ Heaven gave it to him,” was the answer. 

“<¢Fleaven gave it to him!’ did Heaven confer its ap- 
pointment on him with specific injunctions ?” 

Mencius replied, “ No. Heaven does not speak. It 
simply showed its will by his personal conduct, and his 
conduct of affairs.” 

“¢Tt showed its will by his personal conduct, and his 
conduct of affairs ; how was this?” Mencius’ answer 
was, “The empire can present a man to heaven, but he 
cannot make heaven give that man the empire. A prince 
can present a man to the emperor, but he cannot cause 
the emperor to make that mana prince. A great officer 
can present a man to his prince, but he cannot cause the 





paid to Heaven, Earth, and the Emperor ; hence, also, we perceive 
a cause for the long continuance of the Chinese government, be- 
eause rebellion against the emperor would have been rebellion 
against Heaven : hence, likewise, we perceive how the emperors of 


China were led to assume superiority over the rulers of other coun- 
tries, 


166 MENCIUS. 


prince to make that man a great officer. Yaou presented 
Shun to heaven, and the people accepted him. There- 
fore I say, ‘ Heaven does not speak. It simply indicated 
its will by his personal conduct and his conduct of af- 
fairs.’ ” 

Chang said, “I presume to ask how it was that Yaou 
presented Sun to heaven, and heaven accepted him ; 
and that he exhibited him to the people, and the people 
accepted him.” JZencius replied, “ He caused him to 
preside over the sacrifices, and all the spirits were well 
pleased with him: thus heaven accepted him. He caused 
him to preside over the conduct of affairs, and affairs 
were well administered, so that the people reposed under 
him: thus the people accepted him. Heaven gave “he 
empire to him. ‘The people gave itto him. Therefore I 
said, ‘ The emperor cannot give the empire to another.’ 

“ Shun assisted Yaou 7 the government for twenty-and-- 
eight years: this was more than man could have done, 
and was from heaven.” 

The words of The Great Declaration are: “ Heaven 
sees according as my people see ; Heaven hears accord- 
ing as my people hear.” 


INSTRUCTION FOR PRINCES AND PUBLIC OFFICERS, 


Mencius said, “ How is it posssible to speak with those 
princes who are not benevolent? Their perils they count 
safety, their calamities they count profitable, and they 
have pleasure in the things by which they perish. 

“Next to those who unite the princes in leagues, are 
those who are skillful to fight ; and next to them, those 


ON GOVERNMENT. 167 


who take in grassy commons, imposing the cultivation of 
the ground oz ¢he people. 

“ The respectful do not despise others. ‘The econom- 
ical do not plunder others. The prince who treats men 
with despite, and plunders them, is only afraid that they 
may not prove obedient to him: how can he be regarded 
as respectful or economical? How can respectfulness and 
economy be made out of tones of the voice, and a smil- 
ing manner?” 

When Tsze-ch’an was chief minister of the State of 
Ch’ing, he would convey people across the Tsin and Wei 
in his own carriage. 

Mencius said, “ It was kind, but showed that he did 
‘not understand the practice of government. 

“Let a governor conduct his rule on principles of 
equal justice. But how can he convey everybody across 
the rivers ?” 

“Tt follows that if a governor will /y /o please every- 
body, he will find the days not sufficient for his work.* 

“Let the people be employed in the way which is in- 
tended to secure their ease, and though they be toiled, 
they will not murmur. Let them be put to death in the 
way which is intended to preserve their lives, and though 
they die, they will not murmur at him who puts them to 
death. 

“Under a chief, leading all the princes, the people 
look brisk and cheerful. Under a true sovereign, they 
have an air of deep contentment. 





* Good government lies in equal measures for the general good, 
not in acts of favor to individuals. It is not the business of the 
public officer to serve the private interests of individuals at the ex- 
pense of the general good of the State. 


168 MENCIUS. 


“Kindly words do not enter so deeply into men as a 
reputation for kindness. 

“ Good government does not lay hold of the people SO 
much as good instructions. 

“ Good government is feared by the people, while good 
instructions are loved by them. Good government gets 
the people’s wealth, while good instructions get their 

hearts. 

_ “He who as a sovereign would perfectly discharge the 
duties of a sovereign, and he who as a minister would 
perfectly discharge the duties of a minister, have only to 
imitate the one Yaou, and the other Shun. He who 
does not serve his sovereign as Shun served Yaou, does 
not respect his sovereign, and he who does not rule his 
people as Yaou ruled his, injures his people.” 

Of the five chiefs the most powerful was the duke 
Hwan. At the assembly of the princes in K’wei-K’ew, 
he bound the victim and placed the writing upon it, but 
did not s/ay z¢ to smear their mouths with the blood. 
The first injunction in their agreement was, “Slay the 
unfilial ; change not the son who has been appointed 
heir; exalt not a concubine to the rank of wife.” The 
second was, “ Honor the worthy, and maintain the tal- 
ented, to give distinction to the virtuous.” The third 
was, “ Respect the old, and be kind to the young. Be 
not forgetful of strangers and travelers.” The fourth 
was, “ Let not offices be hereditary, nor let officers be 
pluralists. In the selection of officers let the object be 
to get the proper men. Let not a vuder take it upon 
himself to put to death a great officer.” The fifth was, 
“Follow no crooked policy in making embankments. 
Impose no restrictions on the sale of grain. Let there 


a 
Ve 


ON GOVERNMENT. 169 


be no promotions without jvs¢ announcing them 7% ‘he 
emperor.” 

Mencius having gone to P’ing-luh, addressed the gov- 
ernor of it, saying, “ If oze of your spearmen should lose 
his place in the ranks three times in one day, would you, 
sir, put him to death or not?” “I would not wait for 
three times #0 do so,” was the reply. 

Mencius said, “ Well then, you, sir, have likewise lost 
your place in the ranks many times. In bad, calamitous 
years, and years of famine, the old and feeble of your 
people, who have beer found lying in the ditches and 
water channels, and the able-bodied, who have been 
scattered about to the four quarters, have amounted to 
several thousands.” Ze governor replied, “ That is a 
state of things in which it does not belong to me, Keu- 
sin, to act.” 

“Flere,” said Mencius, “is a man who receives charge 
of the cattle and sheep of another, and undertakes to 
feed them for him—of course he must search for pasture- 
ground and grass forthem. If, after searching for those, 
he cannot find them, will he return Ais charge to the 
owner? or will he stand by and see them die?” “ Here- 
in,” said the officer, “ I am guilty.” 


IN THE CHOICE OF MINISTERS BE NOT GUIDED ENTIRELY 
BY REPORTS OF OTHERS. 


Mencius said, “ When all those about you say, “This 
is a man of talents and worth,’ you may not for that be- 
lieve it. When your great officers all say, ‘This is aman 
of talents and virtue,’ neither may you for that believe it. 
When all the people say, ‘This is a man of talents and 


170 MENCIUS, 


virtue,’ then examine into the case, and when you find 
that the man is such, employ him. When all those about 
you say, ‘This man won’t do,’ don’t listen to them. 
When all your great officers say, ‘ This man won’t do,’ 
don’t listen to them. When the people all say, ‘ This 
man won’t do, then examine into the case, and when 
you find that the man won’t do, send him away. 

“ When all those about you say, ‘ This man deserves 
death,’ don’t listen to them. When all your great offi- 
cers say, ‘This man deserveth death,’ don’t listen to 
them. When the people all say, ‘This man deserves 
death,’ then inquire into the case, and when you see 
that the man -deserves death, put him to death. In ac- 
cordance with this we have the saying, ‘The people 
killed him.’ 

“You must act in this way in order to be the parent of 
the people. 

“If men of virtue and ability be not confided in, a 
State will become empty and void.” 


GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE ADMINISTERED ON PRINCIPLES 
OF BENEVOLENCE AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. TO GOVERN 
THUS, RULERS MUST THEMSELVES BE WISE AND GOOD. 


Mencius went to see King Hwuy of Leang. 

The king said, “ Venerable sir, since you have not 
counted it far to come here, a distance of a thousand /,* 
may I presume that you are likewise provided with coun- 
sels to profit my kingdom ?” 





* Ze—there are three and one-third Chinese / to an English 
mile. 


a 
‘cad 


ON GOVERNMENT. I71t 


Mencius replied, “ Why must your Majesty use that 
word ‘profit?’ What I am ‘likewise’ provided with, 
are counsels to benevolence and righteousness, and these 
are my only topics. 

“If your Majesty say, ‘What is to be done to profit 
my kingdom?’ the great officers will say, ‘What is to be 
done to profit our families?’ and the inferior officers and 
the common people will say, ‘What is to be done to profit 
our persons?’ Superiors and inferiors will try to snatch 
this profit the one from the other, and the kingdom will 
be endangered. 

“There never has been a man trained to benevolence 
who neglected his parents. ‘There never has been a man 
trained to righteousness who made his sovereign an after 
consideration. 

“ Let your Majesty also say, ‘ Benevolence and righte- 
ousness, and these shali be the only themes.’ Why must 
you use that word—‘ profit.’ ” 

Mencius, another day, saw King Hwuy of Leang. The 
king went and stood with him by a pond, and, looking 
round at the large geese and deer, said, “ Do wise and 
good princes also find pleasure in these things ?” 

Mencius replied, “ Being wise and good, they have 
pleasure in these things. If they are not wise and good, 
though they have these things, they do not find pleas- 
me.” * 

“Tt is said in the Book of Poetry, ‘He measured out 
and commenced his spirit-tower ; 

He measured it out and planned it ; 





* The king is happy when he rules over happy subjects, and peo- 
ple who love their king serve him gladly. 


172 MENCIUS. 


The people addressed themselves to it ; 

And in less than a day completed it. 

When he measured and began it, he said to them—Be 
not so earnest: 

But the multitude came, as if they had been his chil- 
dren. 

The king was in his spirit-park ; 

The does reposed about, 

The does so sleek and fat: 

And the white birds shone glistening. 

The king was by his spirit-pond ; 

How full was it of fishes leaping about !’* 

“ King Wan used the strength of the people to make his 
tower and his pond, and yet the people rejoiced to do the 
work, calling the tower ‘the spirit tower,’ calling the pond 
‘the spirit pond,’ and rejoicing that he had his large deer 
his fishes, and turtles. ‘The ancients caused the people 
to have pleasure as well as themselves, and therefore they 
could enjoy it.” 

Conversing with King Seuen of Ts’e, Mencius said, 
“ By weighing, we know what things are light, and what 
heavy. By measuring, we know what things are long, 
and what short. The relations of all things may be thus 
determined, and it is of the greatest importance to esti- 
mate te motions of the mind. I beg your Majesty to 
measure it. 

“Vou collect your equipments of war, endanger your 
soldiers and officers, and excite the resentment of the 





* The Chinese of all classes are remarkable for their love of pic- 
turesque scenery, for flowers, birds, fishes, etc., and for their skill 
in miniature gardening 


ON GOVERNMENT. 173 


other princes ; do these things cause you pleasure in your 
mind ? 

“Tf your Majesty will institute a government whose 
actions shall all be benevolent, this will cause all the offi- 
cers in the empire to wish to stand in your Majesty’s 
court, and the farmers all to wish to plough in your Ma- 
jesty’s fields, and the merchants, both travelling and sta- 
tionary, all to wish to store their goods in your Majesty’s 
market places, and traveling strangers all to wish to make 
their tours on your Majesty’s roads, and all throughout 
the empire who feel aggrieved by their rulers to wish to 
come and complain to your Majesty. And when they 
are so bent, who will be able to keep them back ?” 

The king said, “ I am stupid, and not able to advance 
to this. I wish you, my Master, to assist my intentions. 
’ Teach me clearly ; although I am deficient in intelligence 
and vigor, I will essay and try to carry your instruc- 
tions into effect. 

“ From the want of benevolence and the want of wis- 
dom will ensue the entire absence of propriety and right- 
eousness : he who is in such a case must be the servant 
of other men. 

“The man who would be benevolent is like the archer. 
The archer adjusts himself, and then shoots. If he miss- 
es, he does not murmur against those who surpass him- 
self. He simply turns round and seeks ¢he cause of his 
failure in himself.” 

Mencius said, “ With those who do violence to them- 
selves, it is impossible to speak. With those who throw 
themselves away, it is impossible to do anything. To 
disown in his conversation propriety and righteousness, 
is what me mean by doing violence to one’s self. Zo say 


174 MENCIUS. 


—‘7Z am not able to dwell in benevolence or pursue the 
path of righteousness,’ is what we mean by throwing 
_ one’s self away. 

“Benevolence is the tranquil habitation of man, and 
righteousness is his straight path. 

“ Alas for them, who leave the tranquil dwelling empty, 
and do not reside in it, and who abandon the right path, 
and do not pursue it! 

“The path of duty lies in what is near, and men seek 
for it in what is remote. ‘The work of duty lies in what 
is easy, and men seek for it in what is difficult. If each 
man would love his parents, and show the due respect to 
his elders, the whole empire would enjoy tranquility.” 

The king’s son Teen asked AZencius, saying, “ What is 
the business of the wxemployed scholar?” 

Mencius replied, “’To exalt his aim.” 

Teen asked again,‘ What do you mean by exalting the 
aim?” ‘The answer was, “ Seting zt simply on benevo- 
lence and righteousness. He thinks how to put a single 
innocent person to death is contrary to benevolence : 
how to take what one has not a vight ¢o is contrary to 
righteousness ; that one’s dwelling should be benevo- 
lence: and one’s path should be righteousness. When 
benevolence is the dwelling-place of ¢he heart, and right- 
eousness the path of ¢he /ife, the business of a great man 
is complete. 

“ Supposing that the kingdom of Ts’e were offered, 
contrary to righteousness, to C#’zz Chung, he would not 
receive it, and all people believe in him, as a man of the 
highest worth. But this is only the righteousness which 
declines a dish of rice or a platter of soup. A man can 
have no greater crimes than to disown his parents and re- 


ON GOVERNMENT. 175 


latives, and the relations of sovereign and minister, supe- 
riors and inferiors. How can it be allowed to give a man 
credit for the great excellencies because he possesses a 
small one?” 


BENEVOLENT GOVERNMENT SECURES THE AFFECTIONS OF 
THE SUBJECTS. 


Mencius said, “ He who outrages the benevolence proper 
to his nature is called a robber ; he who outrages right- 
eousness is called a ruffian. ‘The robber and ruffian we 
call a mere fellow. I have heard of the cutting off of 
the fellow Chow, but I have not heard of the putting a 
sovereign to death, zz his case.” 

Mencius said, “ In calamitous years and years of’ fam- 
ine, the old and weak of your people, who have been 
found lying in the ditches and water-channels, and the 
able-bodied who have been scattered about to the four 
quarters, have amounted to several thousands. All the 
while, your granaries, O prince, have been stored with 
grain, and your treasuries and arsenals have been full, 
and not one of your officers has told you of the distress. 
Thus negligent have the superiors zz your State been, 
and cruel to their inferiors. The philosopher Tsang 
said, ‘ Beware, beware! What proceeds from you will 
return to you again.’ Now, at length, the people have 
returned their conduct to the officers. Do not you, O 
prince, blame them. 

“Tf you will put in practice a benevolent government, 
this people will love you and all above them, and will 
die for their officers.” 

Mencius said, “ Kéé and Chow’s losing the empire 


176 MENCIUS. 


arose from their losing the people, and to lose the peo- 
ple means to lose their hearts. There is a way to get 
the empire: get the people and the empire is got. There 
is a way to get the people: get their hearts, and the 
people are got. There is a way to get their hearts: it 
is simply to collect for them what they like, and not to 
lay on them what they dislike. 

“The people turn to a benevolent rule as water flows 
downwards.” 


THE SUPPORT AND COMFORT OF THE AGED A RELIGIOUS 
DUTY. 


Mencius said, “ Pih-e, that he might avoid Chow, was 
dwelling on the coast of the northern sea, when he heard 
of the rise ot King Win. He roused himself, and said, 
“Why should I not go and follow him? I have heard 
that the Chief of the West knows well how to nourish 
the old.’ 

“ Around the homestead with its five mow, the space 
beneath the walls was planted with mulberry trees, with 
which the women nourished silkworms, and thus the old 
were able to have silk to wear. Lach family had five 
brood hens and two brood sows, which were kept to 
their Jreeding seasons, and thus the old were able to have 
flesh to eat. The husbandmen cultivated their farms of 
one hundred mow, and thus their families of eight 
mouths were secured against want. 

“The expression, ‘ The Chief of the West knows well 
how to nourish the old,’ refers to his regulation of the 
fields and dwellings, his teaching them to plant the 
mulberry and nourish those animals, and his instructing 


ON GOVERNMENT. Eid 


the wives and children, so as to make them nourish 
their aged. At fifty, warmth cannot be maintained with- 
out silks, and at seventy, flesh is necessary to satisfy the 
appetite. Persons not kept warm, nor supplied with 
food, are said to be starved and famished ; but among 
the people of King Wan, there were no aged who were 
starved or famished. This is the meaning of the ex- 
pression in question.” 


EFFECTS OF OPPRESSION. 


Confucius said, “ There are but two courses which can 
be pursued—that of virtue, and its opposite.” 

* A sovereign who carries the oppression of his peo- 
ple to the highest pitch, will himself be slain, and his 
kingdom will perish. If one stops short of the highest 
pitch, his life will, zo¢twthstanding be in danger, and his 
kingdom will be weakened. He will be styled ‘The 
dark,’ or ‘ The cruel,’ and though he may have filial sons 
and affectionate grandsons, they will not be able in a 
hundred generations to change ¢he designation.” 

Mencius said, “ It was by benevolence that the three 
dynasties gained the empire, and by not being benevo- 
lent, that they lost it. 

“If the emperor be not benevolent, he cannot preserve 
the empire from passing from him. If the sovereign of 
a State be not benevolent, he cannot preserve his king- 
dom. If a high, noble, or great officer be not benevo- 
lent, he cannot preserve his ancestral temple. If a 
scholar or common man be not benevolent, he cannot 
- preserve his four limbs. 


178 MENCIUS. 


“ Now, they hate death and ruin, and yet delight in 
being not benevolent; this is like hating to be drunk, 
and yet being strong Zo drink wine.” 


BE PREPARED TO RESIST INVASION. 


The duke Wan of Ting asked AZencius, saying, “'T’ing 
is a small kingdom, and lies between ‘I's’e and Ts’oo. 
Shall I serve Ts’e, or shall I serve Ts’00?” 

Mencius replied, “This plan which you propose is be- 
yond me. If you will have me counsel you, there is one 
thing / can suggest. Dig deeper your moats ; build high- 
er your walls ; guard them along with your people. /z 
case of attack, be prepared to die zz your defense, and have 
the people so they will not leave you; this is a proper 
course.” 


RULERS GOVERN BY THEIR EXAMPLE: THEY MUST RULE 
THEIR OWN SPIRITS; AND RULE WELL THEIR OWN 
HOUSEHOLDS. 


Mencius said, “ Treat with the reverence due to age 
the elders in your own family, so that the elders in the 
families of others shall be similarly treated ; treat with 
the kindness due to youth the young in your own family, © 
so that the young in the families of others shall be simi- 
larly treated: do this, and the empire may be made to 
go round in your palm. It is said in the Book of Poe- 
try, ‘His example affected his wife. It reached to his 
brothers, and his family of the State was governed by it.’ 
The language shows how 7g Wan simply took this 
kindly heart, and exercised it towards thosé parties. 


ON GOVERNMENT. 179 


Therefore the carrying out his kindly heart dy a@ prince 
will suffice for the love and protection of all within the 
four seas, and if he do not carry it out, he will not be 
able to protect his wife and children. The way in which 
the ancients came greatly to surpass other men, was no 
other than this: simply that they knew well how to carry 
out, so as to affect others, what they themselves did. 
Now your kindness is sufficient to reach to animals, and 
no benefits are extended from it to reach the people. 
How is this? Is an exception to be made here? 

“Tf the sovereign be benevolent, all will be benevo- 
lent. If the sovereign be righteous, all will be righteous.” 


THE FAMILY THE ROOT OF THE STATE. HE WHO GOVERNS 
HIMSELF MAY GOVERN HIS FAMILY ; HE WHO GOVERNS 
HIS FAMILY MAY GOVERN THE STATE. 


Mencius said, “ People have this common saying, 
‘The empire, the State, the family.’ - The root of the em- 
pire is in the State. The root of the State is in the 
family. The root of the family is in the person of its 
head. 

“Of services which is the greatest? The service of 
parents is the greatest. Of charges which is the great- 
est? The charge of one’s self is the greatest. That those 
who do not fail to keep themselves are able to serve their 
parents, is what I have heard. But I have never heard 
of any, who having failed to keep themselves, were able 
notwithstanding to serve their parents. 

“There are many services, but the service of parents 
is the root of all others. There are many charges, but 
the charge of one’s self is the root of all others. 


180 MENCIUS. 


*‘ Let the prince be benevolent, and all 4zs acts will be 
benevolent. 

“Tet the prince be righteous, and all zs acts will be 
righteous. Let the prince be correct, and everything 
will be correct. Once rectify the prince, and the king- 
dom will be firmly settled. 

“There are those who are great men. They rectify 
themselves, and others are rectified. 

“Tf aman himself do not walk in the vzght path, it 
will not be walked in even by his wife and children. If 
he do not order men according to the ight way, he will 
not be able to get the obedience of even his wife and 
children.” 


POLITICAL ECONOMY. 


King Hwuy, of Leang, said, “Small as my virtue is, 
in the government of my kingdom, I do indeed exert my 
mind to the utmost. Ifthe year be bad on the inside of 
the river, I remove as many of the people as J can to the 
east of the river, and convey grain to the country in the 
inside.* When the year is bad on the east of the river, 
I act on the same plan. On examining the government 
of the neighboring kingdoms, I do not find that there is 
any prince who employs his mind as I do. And yet the 
people of the neighboring kingdoms do not decrease, nor 
do my people increase. How is this?” 





* Leang was on the south of the /o, or Yellow river, but por- 
tions of the Wei territory lay on the other side or north of the 
river. This was called the inside of the river, because the ancient 
imperial capitals had mostly been there, in the province of K’e, 
comprehending the present Shan-si. 


ON GOVERNMENT. 18t 


Mencius replied, “ Your Majesty is fond of war, * * 

* *,. If the seasons of husbandry be not interfered 
with, the grain will be more than can be eaten.* If close 
nets are not allowed to enter the pools and ponds, the 
fishes and turtles will be more than can be consumed. 
If the axes and bills enter the hills and forests only at 
the proper time, the wood will be more than can be used. 
When the grain and fish and turtles are more than can 
be eaten, and there is more wood than can be used, this 
enables the people to nourish their living and bury their 
dead, without any feeling against any. This condition, 
in which the people nourish their living and bury their 
dead without any feeling against any, is the first step of 
royal government. 

“Let mulberry trees be planted about the homesteads 
with their five mow, and persons of fifty years may be 
clothed with silk. In keeping fowls, pigs, dogs, and 
swine, let not their times of breeding be neglected, and 
persons of seventy years may eat flesh. Let there not 
be taken away the time that is proper for the cultivation 
of the farm with its hundred mow, and the family of sev- 
eral mouths that is supported by it shall not suffer from 
hunger. Let careful attention be paid to education in 
schools, including in it especially the filial and fraternal 
duties, and gray-haired men will not be seen upon the 
roads, carrying burdens on their backs or on their heads. 
It never has been that the ruler of a State, where such 
results were seen—persons of seventy wearing silk and 





* In spring, there was the sowing; in summer, the weeding; and 
in autumn, the harvesting: those were the seasons and works of 
husbandry, from which the people might not be called off, 


182 MENCIUS. 


eating flesh, and the black-haired people suffering nei- 
ther from hunger nor cold, did not attain to the imperial 
dignity.* 

“Your dogs and swine eat the food of men, and you 
do not know to make any restrictive arrangements. 
There are people dying from famine on the roads, and 
you do not know to issue the stores of your granaries 
for them. When peopie die you say, “It is not owing 
to me ; it is owing to the year! In what does this differ 
from stabbing a man and killing him, and then saying, 
‘It was not I; it was the weapon?’ Let your majesty 
cease to lay the blame on the year, and instantly from 
all the empire the people will come to you.” 

King Hwuy, of Leang, said, “I wish quietly to receive 
your instructions.” 

Mencius replied, “Is there any difference between 
killing a man with a stick and with a sword?” Zhe king 
said, “ There is no difference.” 

“Ts there any difference between doing it with a sword 
and with ¢he style of government?” “ There is no differ- 
ence,” was the reply. 

Mencius then said, “In your kitchen there is fat meat ; 
in your stable there are fat horses. But your people 
have the look of hunger, and on the wilds there are those 
who have died of famine. This is leading on beasts to 
devour men. 

“ Beasts devour one another, and men hate them /or 
doing so. When a prince, being the parent of his people, 





* Black hair is universal in China until age has turned it white; 
therefore black-haired people generally designates the youth and 
middle-aged, and gray-haired the aged. 


a | 4. 





ON GOVERNMENT. 183 


administers his government so as to be chargeable with 
leading on beasts to devour men, where is that parental 
relation to the people?” 

Chung-ne said, “ Was he not without posterity who 
first made wooden images éo bury with the dead? So he 
said, because that men made the semblance of men, and 
used them jor that purpose: what shall be thought of 
him who causes his people to die of hunger ? ”* 

King Hwuy, of Leang, said, “There was not in the 
empire a stronger State than Ts’in, as you, venerable sir, 
know. But since it descended to me, on the east, we 
have been defeated by Ts’e, and then my eldest son per- 
ished ; on the west, we have lost seven hundred & of 
territory to T’s’in ; and on the south, we have sustained 
disgrace at the hands of Ts’oo. I have brought shame 
on my departed predecessors, and wish on their account 
to wipe it away, once for all. What course is to be pur- 
sued to accomplish this ?” 

Mencius replied, “ With a territory which is only a hun- 
dred Ze square, it is possible to attain the imperial dig- 
nity. 

“If your Majesty will zzdeed dispense a benevolent 
government to the people, being sparing in the use of 
punishments and fines, and making the taxes and levies 





* In ancient times, bundles of straw were made to represent men 
imperfectly, and carried to the grave, and buried with the dead, as 
attendants upon them. In middle antiquity, 2 ¢., after the rise of 
the Chow dynasty, for those bundles of straw, wooden figures of 
men were used, having springs in them, by which they could move. 
By and by, came the practice of burying living persons with the 
dead, which Confucius thought was an effect of this invention, and 
therefore he branded the inventor as in the text, 


184 MENCIUS. 


light, so causing that the fields shall be ploughed deep, 
and the weeding of them be carefully attended to,.and 
that the strong-bodied, during their days of leisure, shall 
cultivate their filial piety, fraternal respectfulness, sin- 
cerity, and truthfulness, serving thereby, at home, their 
fathers and elder brothers, and, abroad, their elders and 
superiors ; you will then have a people who can be em- 
ployed, with sticks which they have prepared, to oppose 
the strong mail and sharp weapons of the troops of Ts’in 
and T’s’oo. 

“The rulers of those States rob their people of their 
time, so that they cannot plough and weed their fields, 
in order to support their parents. Their parents suffer 
from cold and hunger. Brothers, wives, and children 
are separated and scattered abroad. 

“ Those rulers, as it were, drive their people into pit- 
falls, or drown them. Your Majesty will go to punish 
them. In such a case, who will oppose your Majesty ? 

“Tn accordance with this is the saying—The benevo- 
lent has no enemy! I beg your Majesty not to doubt 
what I say.” 

The king Seuen, of Ts’e, said, “ What virtue must 
there be in order to the attainment of imperial sway?” 

Mencius answered, “ The love and protection of the 
people ; with this, there is no power which can prevent a 
ruler from attaining it. 

“ An intelligent ruler will regulate the livelihood of the 
people, so as to make sure that, above, they shall have 
sufficient wherewith to serve their parents, and, below, 
sufficient wherewith to support their wives and children; 
that in good years they shall always be abundantly 
satisfied, and that in bad years they shall escape the dan- | 


ON GOVERNMENT. 185 


ger of perishing. After this he may urge them, and they 
will proceed to what is good, for in this case the people 
will follow after that with case. 

“Let it be seen to that their fields of grain and hemp 
are well cultivated, and make the taxes on them light: 
so the people may be made rich. 

“ Let it be seen to that the people use their resources 
of food seasonably, and expend their wealth only on the 
prescribed ceremonies: so their wealth will be more than 
can be consumed. 

“The people cannot live without water and fire, yet 
if you knock at a man’s door in the dusk of the evening, 
and ask for water and fire, there is no man who will not 
give them, such is the abundance of these things. A sage 
governs the empire so as to cause pulse and grain to be 
as abundant as water and fire. When pulse and grain 
are as abundant as water and fire, how shall the people 
be other than virtuous? 

“The precious things of a prince are three : the terri- 
tory, the people, the government and its business. If 
one value as most precious, pearls and stones, calamity is 
sure to befall him.” 


ON LEVYING TAXES. 


Mencius said, “ A ruler who is endowed with talents 
and virtue will be gravely complaisant and economical, 
showing a respectful politeness to his ministers, and tak- 
ing from the people only in accordance with regulated 
limits.” 

Yang hoo said, “ He who seeks to be rich will not be 


186 MENCIUS. 


benevolent. He who wishes to be benevolent will not 
be rich. 

“ The sovereign of the Hea dynasty enacted the fifty 
mow allotment, and the payment of a tax. The founder 
of the Yin enacted the seventy mow allotment, and the 
system of mutual aid. The founder of the Chow dynasty 
enacted the hundred mow allotment, and the share sys- 
tem. In reality, what was paid in all these was a tithe. 
The share system means mutual division. The aid sys- 
tem means mutual dependence.” 

Lung said, “ For regulating the lands, there is no bet- 
ter system than that of mutual aid, and none which is not 
better than that of taxing. By the tax system, the regu- 
lar amount was fixed by taking the average of several 
years. In good years, when the grain lies about in abun- 
dance, much might be taken without its being oppressive, 
and the actual exaction would be small. But in bad 
years, the produce being not sufficient to repay the ma- 
nuring of the fields, this system still requires the taking 
of the full amount. When the parent of the people 
causes the people to wear looks of distress, and, after the 
whole year’s toil, yet not to be able to nourish their pa- 
rents, so that they proceed to borrowing to increase 
their means, till the old people and children are found 
lying in the ditches and water-channels: where, 2 such a 
casé, is his parental relation to the people?” 

It is said in the Book of Poetry: 

“ May the rain come down on our public field, 

_ And then upon our private fields ! ” 

. It is only in the system of mutual aid that there is a 
public field, and from this passage we perceive that even 
in the Chow dynasty this system has been recognized. 


ON GOVERNMENT. 187 


Mencius said, “ The first thing towards a benevolent 
government must be to lay down the boundaries. If the 
boundaries be not defined correctly, the division of the 
land into squares will not be equal, and the produce 
available for salaries will not be evenly distributed. On 
this account, oppressive rulers and impure ministers are 
sure to neglect this defining of the boundaries. When 
the boundaries have been defined correctly, the division 
of the fields and the regulation of allowances may be de- 
termined by you, sitting at your ease. 

“ Although the territory of T’aing is narrow and small, 
yet there must be in it men of a superior grade, and there 
must be in it countrymen. If there were not men of a 
superior grade, there would be none to rule the country- 
men. If there were not countrymen, there would be none 
to support the men of superior grade. 

“T would ask you, in the remoter districts, observing 
the nine-squares division, to reserve one division to be 
cultivated on the system of mutual aid, and in the more 
central parts of the kingdom, to make the people pay for 
themselves a tenth part of their produce. 

“From the highest officers down to the lowest, each 
one must have his holy field, consisting of fifty mow.* 

“A square / covers nine squares of land, which nine 
Squares contain nine hundred mow. The central square 





* Different divisions are spoken of—if fifty mzow, (Chinese acres) 
then five must be set apart and cultivated for the public good: in 
the division of nine squares, the produce of the ninth went to gov- 
ernment. The holy field was the portion set apart to supply the 
means to maintain the sacrifices. 


In China, taxes for the most part are collected under the desig- 
nation of eround rent, 


188 MENCIUS. 


is the public field, and eight families, each having its pri- 
vate hundred mow, cultivate in common the public field. 
And not till the public work is finished may they presume 
to attend to their private affairs. 

“Those are the great outlines of the system. Hap- 
pily, to modify and adapt it depends on the prince.” 

Tae Ying-che said to AZencius, “I am not able at pres- 
ent and immediately to do with the levying of a tithe ony 
and abolishing the duties charged at the passes, and in 
the markets. With your leave I will lighten, however, 
both the tax and the duties, until next year, and will then 
make an end of them. What do you think of sucha 
course ?” 

Mencius said, “ Here is a man, who every day appro- 
priates some of his neighbors’ strayed fowls. Some one 
said to him, ‘Such is not the way of a good man; and 
he replies, ‘With your leave I will diminish my appro- 
priations, and will take only one fowl a month, until next — 
year, when I will make an end of the practice.’ If you 
know that the thing is unrighteous, then use all dispatch 
in putting an end to it: why wait till next year?” 

Pih Kwei said, “ I want to take a twentieth of the pro- 
duce only as the tax. What do you think of it?” 

Mencius said, “ Your way would be that of the Mih. 

“In a country of ten thousand families, would it do to 
have only one potter?” wei replied, “No. The ves- 
sels would not be enough to use.” 

Mencius went on, “ In the Mih, a7 the five kinds of 
grain are not grown; it only produces the millet. ‘There 
are no fortified cities, no edifices, no ancestral temples, 
no ceremonies of sacrifice ; there are no princes requir- 
ing presents and entertainments ; there is no system of 


ON GOVERNMENT. 189. 


officers with their various subordinates. On these ac- 
counts, a tax of one-twentieth of the produce is sufficient 
there. ' 

“ But now it is the Middle Kingdom that we live in. 
To banish the relationships of men, and have no supe- 
rior men: how can such a state of things be thought of? 

“With but few potters a kingdom cannot subsist : how 
much less can it subsist without men of a higher rank 
than others ? 

“There are the exactions of hempen cloth and silk, of 
grain, and of personal service. The prince requires but 


- one of these at once, deferring the other two. If he re- 


quire two of them a¢ once, then the people die of hunger. 
If he require the three a¢ once, then fathers and sons are 
separated.” 


ON DIVISION OF LABOR. 


Chi’n Seang, having an interview with Mencius, related 
to him with approbation the words of Heu Hing to the 
following effect: “The prince of T’ang is indeed a worthy 
prince. He has not yet heard, however, the vea/ doctrines 
of antiguity. Now, wise and able princes should culti- 
vate the ground equally and along with their people, and 


eat the fruit of their labor. They should prepare their 


own meals, morning and evening, while at the same time 
they carry on their government. But now, the prince of 
T'ang has his granaries, treasuries, and arsenals, which is 
an oppressing of the people to nourish himself. How 
can he be deemed a vea/ worthy prince ?” 

Mencius said, “I suppose that Heu Hing sows grain 
and eats the produce. Is it notso?” “It is so,” was 


190 MENCIUS, 


the answer. “I suppose a/so he weaves cloth, and wears 
his own manufacture. Is it not so?” “No. Heu 
wears clothes of haircloth.” “ Does he wear a cap?” 
“He wears a cap.” “What kind ofacap?” “A plain 
cap.” “Is it woven by himself?” “No. He gets it in 
exchange for grain.” “Why does Heu not weave it him- 
self?” “That would injure his husbandry.” “ Does 
Heu cook his food in boilers and earthen-ware pans, and 
does he plough with an iron share?” “Yes.” “ Does 
he make those articles himself?” “No. He gets them 
in exchange for grain.” 

Mencius then said, “ The getting those various articles 
in exchange for grain, is not oppression to the potter 
and the founder; and the potter and founder, in their 
turn, in exchanging their various articles for grain, are 
not oppressive to the husbandman. How should such a 
thing be supposed? And, moreover, why does not Heu 
act the potter and founder, supplying himself with the 
articles which he uses solely from his own establishment ? 
Why does he go confusedly dealing and exchanging with 
the handicraftsmen? Why does he not spare himself so 
much trouble?” Ch’in Seang replied, “The business of 
the handicraftsman can by no means be carried on long 
with the business of husbandry.” 

Mencius resumed, “Then is it the government of the 
empire which alone can be carried on along with the 
practice of husbandry? Great men have their proper 
business, and little men have their proper business. 
Moreover, in the case of any single individual, what- 
ever articles he can require are ready to his hand, being 
produced by the various handicraftsmen ; if he must first 
make them for his own use, this way of doing would 


aa 


ON GCVERNMENT. 191 


keep the whole empire running about upon the roads. 
Hence, there is the saying, ‘ Some labor with their minds, 
and some labor with their strength. Those who labor 
with their minds govern others ; those who labor with 
their strength are governed by others. Those who are 
governed by others support them ; those who govern 
others are supported by them.’ This is a principle uni- 
versally recognized.” * 

Ch’in Seang said, “ If Heu’s doctrines were followed, 
then there would not be two prices in the market, nor 
any deceit in the kingdom. If a boy of five cubits were 
sent to the market, no one would impose on him; linen 
and silk of the same length would be of the same price. 
So it would be with dundles of hemp and silk, being of 
the same weight ; with the different hanks of grain, being 
the same in quantity ; and with those which were of the 
same size.” 

Mencius replied, “ It is the nature of things to be of 
unequal quality. Some are twice, some five times, some 
ten times, some a hundred times, some a thousand times, 
some ten thousand times, as valuable as others. If you 
reduce them all to the same standard, that must throw 
the empire into confusion. If large shoes and small 
shoes weze of the same price, who would make them? 


-For people to follow the doctrines of Heu, would be for 


them to lead one another on to practice deceit. How 
can they avail for the government of a State? 

“Tf you do not have an intercommunication of the 
productions of labor and an interchange of men’s ser- 
vices, so that one from his overplus may supply the de- 





* And those who think still govern those who toil.—/Po/e. 


192 MENCIUS. 


ficiency of another, then husbandmen will have a super- 
fluity of grain, and women will have a superfluity of 
cloth. If you have such an interchange, carpenters and 
carriage-wrights may all get their food from you.. Here, 
now, is a man who at home is filial, and abroad respectful 
to his elders ; who watches over the principles of the 
ancient kings, awaiting ¢he rise of future learners: and — 
yet you will refuse to support him. How is it that you 
give honor to the carpenter and carriage-wright, and slight 
him who practices benevolence and righteousness ?” 
Pang Kang said, “'The aim of the carpenter and car- 
riage-wright is dy their trades to seek for a living. Is it 
also the aim of the superior man in his practice of prin- 
ciples thereby to seek for a living?” “ What have you 
to do,” returned JZencius, “ with his purpose? He is of 
service to you. He deserves to be supported, and should 
be supported. And, Ze¢ me ask, do you remunerate a 
man’s intention, or do you remunerate his service?” To 
this King replied, “ I remunerate his intention.”* 
Mencius said, “ There is a man here who breaks your 
tiles and draws uzsightZy figures on your walls ; his pur- 
pose may be thereby to seek for his living, but will you 
indeed remunerate him?” “No,” said Kang ; and AZex- 
cius then concluded : “ That being the case, it is not the 
purpose which you remunerate, but the work done.” 





* Encourage learning, and especially reward those who teach 
virtue. The teacher deserves support as well as the artisan. 


ON GOVERNMENT. 193 


ENCOURAGE LEARNING AND COMMERCE. LET THE OF- 
FICES BE FILLED BY PERSONS OF EDUCATION. 


Mencius said, “ If a ruder give honor to men of talents 
and virtue, and employ the able, so that offices shall all 
be filled by individuals of distinction and mark, then all 
the scholars of the empire will be pleased, and wish to 
stand in his court. 

“Tf, in the market-place of hzs capital, he levy a ground- 
rent on the shops but do not tax the goods, or enforce 
the proper regulations without levying a ground-rent, 
then all the traders of the empire will be pleased, and 
wish to store their goods in his market-piace. 

“Tf, at his frontier passes, there be an inspection of 
persons, but no taxes charged on goods or other articles, 
then all the travelers of the empire will be pleased, and 
wish to make their tours on his roads. 

“Tf he require that the husbandmen give their mutual 
aid fo cultivate the public field, and exact no other taxes 
from them, then all the husbandmen of the empire will be 
pleased, and wish to plough in his fields. 

“Tf from the occupiers of the shops in his market- 
place he do not exact the fine of the individual idler, or 
of the hamlet’s quota of cloth, then all the people of the 
empire will be pleased, and wish to come and be his 
people. . 

“If a ruler can truly practice these five things, then 
the people in the neighboring kingdoms will look up to 
him as a parent. From the first birth of mankind till 
now, never has any one led children to attack their 
parents and succeeded in his design. Thus, such a ruler 


9 


194 , MENCIUS. 


will not have an enemy in all the empire; and he who 
has no enemy in the empire, is the minister of Heaven. 
Never has there been a ruler in such a case who did not 
attain to the imperial dignity. 

“When scholars are put to death without any crime, 
the great officers may leave the country. When the peo- 
ple are slaughtered without any crime, the scholars may 
remove.” 


CULTIVATION OF THE FINE ARTS A HELP TO GOOD GOV- 
ERNMENT. 


Chwang Paou, seeing Mencius, said to him, “I had an 
audience of the king. His Majesty told me that he loved 
music, and I was not prepared with anything to reply to 
him. What do you pronounce about that love of music ?” 

Mencius replied, “If the king’s love of music were 
very great, the kingdom of Ts’e would be near to @ state 


of good government.” * 
Another day, Mencius, having an audience of the king, 


said, “Your Majesty, I have heard, told the officer 
Chwang that you love music; was it so?” The king 
changed color, and said, “I am unable to love the music 
of the ancient sovereigns ; I only love the music that 
suits the manners of the present age.” 

Mencius. said, “If your Majesty’s love of music were 
very great, T’s’e would be near to a state of good govern- 





* The opinion of the Chinese sages concerning “him who has 
no music in his soul” appears to have been similar to that of the 
old English bard. 


ON GOVERNMENT. 195 


ment! The music of the present day is just like the 
music of antiquity, 7 regard to affecting that.” 

The king said, “May I hear from you the proof of 
that?” Aencius asked, “Which is the more pleasant—to 
enjoy music by yourself alone, or to enjoy it along with 
others?” “To enjoy it along with others,’ was the re- 
ply. ‘And which is the more pleasant, to enjoy music 
along with a few, or to enjoy it along with many?” “To 
enjoy it along with many.” 

Mencius proceeded, “ Your servant begs to explain what 
J have said about music to your Majesty. 

“ Now, your Majesty is having music here. The people 
hear the noise of your bells and drums, and the notes of 
your fifes and pipes, and they all, with aching heads, knit 
their brows, and say to one another, ‘That’s how our 
king likes his music! But why does he reduce us to 
this extremity of distress? Fathers and sons cannot see 
one another. Elder brothers and younger brothers, 
wives and children, are separated and scattered abroad.’ 
Now, your Majesty is hunting here. The people hear the 
noise of your carriages and horses, and see the beauty of 
your plumes and streamers, and they all, with aching 
heads, knit their brows, and say to one another, ‘ That’s 
how our king likes his hunting! But why does he reduce 
us to the extremity of distress ? Fathers and sons cannot 
see one another. Elder brothers and younger brothers, 
wives and children, are separated and scattered abroad.’ 
Their feeling thus is from no other reason but that you 
do not give the people to have pleasure, as well as your- 
self. 

“Now, your Majesty is having music here. ‘The people 
hear the noise of your bells and drums, and the notes of 


196 MENCIUS. 


your fifes and pipes, and they all, delighted, and with 
joyful looks, say to one another, ‘ That sounds as if our 
king were free from all sickness! If he were not, how 
could he enjoy this music? Now, your Majesty is hunt- 


ing here. The people hear the noise of your carriages ~ 


and horses, and see the beauty of your plumes and 
streamers, and they all, delighted, and with joyful looks, 


say to one another, ‘That looks as if our king were free ~ 


from all sickness! If he were not, how could he enjoy 
this hunting? Their feeling thus is from no other rea- 
son but that you cause them to have their pleasure, as 
you have yours. 


“Tf your Majesty now will make pleasure a thing com- 


mon to the people and yourself, the imperial sway awaits 
you.” 

The king Seuen, of Ts’e, asked, “ Was it so, that the 
park of king Wan contained seventy square Ze?” Men- 
cius replied, “ It is so in the records.” 

“Was it so large as that?” exclaimed ¢he king. “The 
people,” said Mencius, “still looked on it as small.” 
The King added, “ My park contains on/y forty square &, 
and the people still look on it as large. How is this?” 
“ The park of king Wan,” was the reply, “ contained seyv- 
enty square /e, but the grass cutters and fuel gatherers 
had the privilege of entrance into it ; so also had the 
catchers of pheasants and hares. He shared it with the 
people, and was it not with reason that they looked on it 
as small ? 

“When I first arrived at the borders of your State, I 
inquired about the great prohibitory regulations, before 
I would venture to enter it ; and I heard, that inside the 
border-gates there was a park of forty square , and that 


ON GOVERNMENT. 197 


he who killed a deer in it, was held guilty of the same 
crime as if he had killed aman. ‘Thus those forty square 
Ze, are a pitfall in the middle of the kingdom. Is it not 
with reason that the people look upon them as large?” 

The king Seuen, of Ts’e, had an interview with Men- 
cius in the snow palace, and said to him, “ Do men of 
talents and worth likewise find pleasure in these things ? ” 

Mencius replied, “They do, and if people- generally 
are not able Zo enjoy themselves, they condemn their supe- 
riors. 

“¥or them, when they cannot enjoy themselves, to con- 
demn their superiors is wrong; but when the superiors 
of the people do not make enjoyment a thing common 
to the people and themselves, they also do wrong. 

“When a ruler rejoices in the joy of his people, they 
also rejoice in his joy ; when he grieves at the sorrow of 
his people, they also grieve at his sorrow. A sympathy 
of joy will pervade the empire ; a sympathy of sorrow 
will do the same: in such a state of things, it cannot be 
but that the ruler attain to the imperial dynasty. 

“Formerly, the duke, king of Ts’e, asked the minister 
Ngan, saying, ‘I wish to pay a visit of inspection to 
Chuen-foo, and Chaou-woo, and then to bend my course 
southward along the shore, till I come to Lang-yay. 


“What shall I do that my tour may be fit to be compared 


with the visits of inspection made by the ancient empe- 
rors?’ 

“The minister Ngan replied, ‘An excellent inquiry! 
When the emperor visited the princes, it was called a 
tour of inspection ; that is, he surveyed the S/a¢es under 
his care. When the princes attended at the court of the 
emperor, it was called a report of office; that is, they 


198 MENCIUS. 


reported their administration of their offices.* Thus 
neither of the proceedings was without a purpose. And 
moreover, in the spring they examined the plowing, and 
supplied any deficiency of seed; in the autumn they ex- 
amined the reaping, and supplied any deficiency of yield. 
There is the saying of the Hea dynasty—If our king do 
not take his ramble, what will become of our happiness ? 
If our king do not make his excursions, what will become 
of our help? That ramble, and that excursion were a 
pattern to the princes. 

“¢ Now, the state of things is different. A host march- 
es in attendance on the ruler, and stores of provisions are 
consumed. The hungry are deprived of their food, and 
there is no rest for those who are called to toil. Male- 
dictions are uttered by one to another with eyes askance, 
and the people proceed to the commission of wickedness. 
Thus the /mferial ordinances are violated, and the peo- 
ple are oppressed, and the supplies of food and drink flow 
away like water. Zhe rulers yield themselves to the cur- 
rent, or they urge their way against it; they are wild ; 
they are utterly lost: these things proceed to the grief 
of their subordinate governors. 

“¢ Descending along with the current, and forgetting 
to return, is what I cail yielding toit. Passing up against 
it, and forgetting to return, is what I call urging their 
way against it. Pursuing the chase without satiety, is 
what I call being wild. Delighting in wine without sa- 
tiety, is what I call being lost. 





* This tour of inspection seems to have been made under the 
Chow dynasty once in twelve years, while the princes had to pre- 
sent themselves at court once in six years, 


ON GOVERNMENT. 199 


‘The ancient emperors had no pleasures to which they 
gave themselves as on the flowing stream ; no doings 
which might be so characterized as wild and lost. 

“«Tt is for you my prince, to pursue your course.’ ” 

“ The duke King was pleased. He issued a proclama- 
tion throughout his State, and went out and occupied a 
shed in the borders. From that time he began to open 
his granaries to supply the wants of the people, and call- 
ing the Grand Music. Master, he said to him: ‘ Make 
for me music to suit a prince, and his minister, pleased 
with each other.’ And it was then that the Che-shaou 
and Kéé-shaou were made in the poetry to which it was 
said, ‘ What fault is it to restrain one’s prince?’ He who 
restrains his prince loves his prince.”* 


EFFECTS OF GOOD GOVERNMENT. EXAMPLES OF WELL- 
REGULATED STATES. 


_ The king Seuen, of T’se, said, “ People all tell me to 
pull down and remove the Brilliant palace. Shall I pull 
it down, or stop the movement for that object ?” 

Mencius replied, “ The Brilliant palace is a palace ap- 
propriate to the emperors. If your Majesty wishes to 
practice the true Royal government, then do not pull it 
down.” 

The king said, “ May I hear from you what the true 
Royal government is?” “Formerly,” was the reply, 
“ King Win’s government of K’e was as follows: The 





* The Che-shaou and Kéé-shaou, probably, were two tunes or 
pieces of music starting with the notes Che and Kéo respectively. 


200 MENCIUS. 


husbandmen cultivated for the government one-ninth of 
the land ; the descendants of officers were salaried ; at 
the passes and in the markets, strangers were inspected, 
but goods were not taxed ; there were no prohibitions re- 
specting the ponds and weirs ; the wives and children of 
criminals were not involved in their guilt. There were 
the old and wiveless, or widowers ; the old and husband- 
less, or widows ; the old and childless, or solitaries ; the 
young and fatherless, or orphans :. these four classes are 
the most destitute of the people, and have none to whom 
they can tell their wants, and King Wan, in the institu- 
tion of his government with its benevolent action, made 
them the first objects of his regard, as it is said in the 
Book of Poetry, 

‘The rich may get through ; 

But alas! for the miserable and solitary!’ ” 

The king said, “O excellent words!” Mencius said, 
“Since your Majesty deems them excellent, why do you 
not practice them?” “TI have an infirmity,” said the 
king ; “I am fond of wealth.” The reply was, “ For- 
merly, Kung-lew was fond of wealth. It is said in the 
Book of Poetry, 

‘He reared his ricks, and filled his granaries, 

He tied up dried provisions and grain 

in bottomless bags, and sacks, 

That he might gather his people together, and glorify 
his State. 

With bows and arrows all displayed, 

With shields, and spears, and battle-axes, large and 
small, 

He commenced kis march.’ 

“In this way those who remained in their old seat had 


ON GOVERNMENT. 201 


_ their ricks and granaries, and those who marched had 
their bags of provisions. It was not till after this that 
he thought he could commence his march. If your Maj- 
esty loves wealth, let the people be able to gratify the 
same feeling, and what difficuity will there be in your at- 
taining the imperial sway?” 

The king said, “I have an infirmity ; Iam fond of 
beauty.” The reply was, “ Formerly, King T’ae was 
fond of beauty, and loved his wife. It is said in the Book 
of Poetry, 

‘Koo-Kung T’an-foo 

Came in the morning, galloping his horse, 

By the banks of the western waters, 

As far as the foot of K’e hill, : 

Along with the lady of Keang ; 

They came and together chose the site of settlement.’ 

* At that time, in the seclusion of the house, there 
were no dissatisfied women, and abroad, there were no 
unmatried men. If your Majesty loves beauty, let the 
people be able to gratify the same feeling, and what diffi- 
culty will there be in your attaining the imperial sway?” 

“Tt is said in the Book of History, ‘As soon as T’ang 
-began his work of executing justice, he commenced with 
K6. The whole empire had confidence in him. When 
he pursued his work in the east, the rude tribes on the 
west murmured. So did those on the north, when he was 
engaged in the south. Their cry was—Why does he make 
us last? Zhus, the looking of the people to him was like 
the looking in a time of great drought to the clouds and 
rainbows. ‘The frequenters of the markets stopped not. 
The husbandmen made no change 7 their operations. 
While he punished their rulers, he consoled the people. 


9* 


202 / MENCIUS. 


fis progress was like the falling of opportune rain, and 
the people were delighted,’ It 1s said again in the Book 
of History, ‘We have waited for our prince Jong; the 
prince’s coming will be our reviving.’ ” 

“Tn the flourishing periods of the Hea, Yin, and Chow 
dynasties, ¢e imperial domain did not extend a thousand 
Je, and Ts’e embraces so much territory. Cocks crow’ 
and dogs bark to each other, all the way to the four bor- 
ders of the State: so T’s’e possesses the people. No 
change is needed for the enlarging of its territory ; no 
change is needed for the collecting of a population. If 
its ruler will put in practice a benevolent government, 
no power will be able to prevent his becoming emperor.” - 

The duke King of Ts’e, said, “ Not to be able to com- 
mand others, and at the same time to refuse to receive 
their commands, is to cut one’s self off from all inter- 
course with others. 

“ Now the small States imitate the large, and yet are 
ashamed to receive their commands. This is like a schol- 
ar’s being ashamed to receive the commands of his mas- 
ter.” 

It is said in the Book of Poetry, 

“The descendants of ¢he emperors of the Shang dy- 
nasty 

Are in numbers more than hundreds of thousands, 

But, God having passed His decree, 

They are all submissive to Chow. 

They are submissive to Chow, 

Because the decree of Heaven is not unchanging. 

The officers of Yin, admirable and alert, 

Pour out the libations, and assist in the capital of 
Chow.” 


ON GOVERNMENT. 203 


“Tf the sovereign of a State love benevolence, he will 
have no enemy in the empire.” 


EFFECTS OF BAD GOVERNMENT. 


Mencius said to king Seuen, “ Zhe ruler of Yen was 
tyranizing over his people, and your Majesty went and 
punished him. The people supposed that you were going 
to deliver them out of the water and the fire, and brought 
baskets of rice and vessels of Congee, to meet your 
Majesty’s hosts. But you have slain their fathers and 
elder brothers, and put their sons and younger brothers 
in chains. You have pulled down the ancestral temple 
of the State, and are removing to Ts’e its precious ves- 
sels. How can such a course be deemed proper? Zhe 
rest of the empire is indeed jealously afraid of the 
strength of Ts’e, and now, when with a doubtful terri- 
tory, you do not put in practice a benevolent govern- 
ment; it is this which sets the arms of the empire in 
motion. 

“If your Majesty will make haste to issue an ordi- 
nance restoring your captives, old and young, stopping 
the removal of the precious vessels, and saying that after 
consulting with the people of Yen, you will appoint 
them a ruler, and withdraw from the country: in this 
way you may still be able to stop ¢he threatened attack.” 


THE EMPEROR’S TOUR OF INSPECTION. 


The emperor visited the princes, which was called “a 
tour of inspection.” The princes attended at the court 


204 . MENCIUS. 


of the emperor, which was called “giving a report of 
office.” It was the custom in the spring to examine the 
ploughing, and supply any deficiency of seed, and in au- 
tumn to examine the reaping, and assist where there was 
a deficiency of the crop. When ¢he emperor entered the 
boundaries of a State, if the zew ground was being re- 
claimed, and the o/d fields well cultivated ; if the old 
were nourished and the worthy honored, and if men of 
distinguished talents were placed in office: then “He 
prince was rewarded—rewarded with an addition to his 
territory. On the other hand, if, on entering a State, the 
ground was found left wild or overrun with weeds ; if the 
old were neglected and the worthy unhonored, and if 
the offices were filled with hard tax-gatherers : then “He 
prince was reprimanded. If @ prince once omitted his 
attendance at court, he was punished by degradation of 
rank ; if he did so a second time, he was deprived of a 
portion of his territory ; if he did so a third time, the 
imperial forces were se¢ in motion, and he was removed 
Jrom his government. ‘Thus the emperor commanded 
the punishment, but did not himself inflict it, while the 
princes inflicted the punishment, but did not command it. 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 205 


CHAPTER IL. 





METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 





PASSION NATURE, 


Kung-sun Ch’ow asked JMJencius, saying, “ Master, if 
you were to be appointed a high noble and the prime 
minister of T's’e, so as to be able to carry your principles 
into practice, though you should thereupon raise the 
prince to the headship of all the other princes, or even. 
to the imperial dignity, it would not be to be wondered 
at. In such a position would your mind be perturbed 
or not?” Mencius replied, “No. At forty, I attained 
to an unperturbed mind.” * 

Kung-sun Ch’ow said, “ May I venture to ask an ex- 
planation from you, Master, of how you maintain an 
unperturbed mind, and how the philosopher Kaou does 
the same?” Mencius answered, “Kaou says, ‘What is 
not attained in words is not to be sought for in the 





* The Chinese consider man at forty to be at his best physical 
and mental estate, and if at this age he has failed in the forma- 
tion of a good character, they have henceforth no hope for him. 


206 MENCIUS. 


mind ; what produces dissatisfaction in the mind, is not 
to be helped by passion effort.’ Zzs Zast—when there 
is unrest in the mind, not to seek for relief from passion 
effort—may be conceded. But not to seek in the mind 
for what is not attained in words, cannot be conceded. 
The will is the leader of the passion nature. The passion 
nature pervades and animates the body. The will is 
first and chief, and the passion nature is subordinate to 
it. Therefore, 7 say, maintain firm the will, and do no 
violence to the passion nature.” * 

Ch’ow observed, “ Since you say ‘ The will is chief, and 
the passion nature is subordinate,’ how do you also say, 
‘ Maintain firm the will, and do no violence to the passion 
nature?”  JZencius replied, “‘ When it is the will alone 
which is active, it moves the passion nature. When it 
is the passion nature alone which is active, it moves the 
will. For instance, now, in the case of a man falling or 
running: that it is from the passion nature, and yet it 
moves the mind.” 

“T venture to ask,” sazd Chow again, “wherein you, 
Master, surpass Kaou.” Mencius told him, “I under- 
stand words. I am skillful in nourishing my vast, flow- 
ing passion-nature.” 

C#’ow pursued, “I venture to ask what you mean by 
your vast, flowing passion-nature?” ‘The reply was, 
“It is difficult to describe it. 

“This is the passion-nature: It is exceedingly great, 
and exceedingly strong. Being nourished by rectitude, 





* “ Passion nature ” includes emotions, desires, appetites ; these 
must be kept under control of the will, guided by an instructed 
mind. 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 207 


and sustaining no injury, it fills up all between heaven 
and earth. 

“ This is the passion-nature: It is the mate and as- 
sistant of righteousness and reason. Without it, saz is 
in a state of starvation. 

“Tt is produced by the accumulation of righteous 
deeds ; it is not to be obtained by incidental acts of 
righteousness. If the mind does not feel complacency 
in the conduct, the nature becomes starved. I therefore 
said, ‘Kaou has never understood righteousness, because 
he makes it something external !’ 

“There must be the constant practice of this righteous- 
ness, but without the object of thereby nourishing the pas- 
ston-nature. Let not the mind forget zs work, but let 
there be no assisting the growth of thatnature. Let us not 
be like the man of Sung. There was a man of Sung, who 
was grieved that his growing corn was not longer, and so 
he pulled it up. Having done this, he returned home, 
looking very stupid, and said to his people, ‘ I am tired 
to-day. I have been helping the corn to grow long!’> 
His son ran to look at it, and found the corn all with- 
ered. ‘There are few in the world who do not deal with 
their passion-nature as if they were assisting the corn to 
grow long. Some indeed consider it of no benefit to 
them, and let it alone: they do not weed their corn. 
They who assist it to grow long pull out their corn. 
What they do is not only of no benefit Zo the nature, but 
it also injures it.” 

Kung-sun Chow further asked, “What do you mean by 
saying that you understand whatever words you hear?” 
Mencius replied, “ When words are one-sided, I know 
how the mind of the speaker is clouded over. When 


208 MENCIUS. 


words are extravagant, I know how the mind is fallen 
and sunk. When words are all-depraved, I know how 
the mind has departed from principle. When words are 
evasive, I know how Ze mind is at its wit’s end. These 
evils growing in the mind, do injury to government, and, 
displayed in the government, are hurtful to the conduct 
- of affairs. When a sage shall again arise, he will cer- 
tainly follow my words.” 

On this, Cho’w observed, “'Tsae Go and Tsze-Kung 
were skillful in speaking. Yen New, the disciple Min, 
and Yen Yuen, while their words were good, were distin- 
guished for their virtuous conduct. Confucius united 
the qualities of the disciples in himself, Juz st/7 he said, 
‘In the matter of speeches, I am not competent.’ Then, 
Master, have you attained to be a sage?” 

Mencius said, “Oh! what words were these? For- 
merly, I'sze-Kung asked Confucius, saying, ‘ Master, are 
you a sage?’ Confucius answered him, ‘ A sage is what 
I cannot rise to. I learn without satiety, and teach with- 
out being tired.’ Tsze-Kung said, ‘ You learn without 
satiety: that shows your wisdom. You teach without 
being tired: that shows your benevolence. Benevolent 
and wise : Master, you ARE a sage!’ Now, since Confu- 
cius would not have himself regarded a sage, what words 
were those ?” 

Chow said, “ Comparing Pih-e and E-yun with Confu- 
cius, are they to be placed in the same rank?” JZencius 
replied, “No. Since there were living men until now, 
there never was another Confucius.” 

Tsae Go said, “ According to my view of our Master, 
he is far superior to Yaou and Shun.” 

Tsze-Kung said, “ By viewing the ceremonial ordi- 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. “209 


nances of a prince, we know the character of his govern- 
ment. By hearing his music, we know /he character of 
his virtue. From the distance of a hundred ages after, 
I can arrange, according to their merits, the kings of a 
hundred ages ; not one of them can escape me. From 
the birth of mankind till now, there has never been am- 
other like our Master.” 

Yew Gd said, “Is it only among men that it is so? 
There is the K’e-lin among quadrupeds ; the Fung-hwang 
among birds ; the T’ae mountain among mounds and 
ant-hills, and rivers and seas among rain-pools. Though 
different in degree, they are the same in kind. So the 
sages among mankind are also the same in kind. But 
they stand out from their fellows, and rise above the level, 
and from the birth of mankind till now, there never has 
been one so complete as Confucius.” * 





* The X’e is properly the male, and the the female of the an- 
mal referred to;—a monster with a deer’s body, an ox’s tail, and a 
horse’s feet: which appears to greet the birth of a sage, or the reign ~ 
of a sage sovereign. /ung-hwang is the female of the Chinese 
Phoenix, a fabulous bird: the emperor is poetically called Fung, 
Lae mountain was a famous peak in Shan-tung province, 


210 MENCIUS. 


THE ORIGINAL HEART. 


THE CHINESE SAGES’ VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE. THE 
PRINCIPLE OF BENEVOLENCE, RIGHTEOUSNESS, PROPRI- 
ETY, AND KNOWLEDGE AS NATURAL TO MAN AS HIS FOUR 
LIMBS. WHEN A PERSON BECOMES BAD, HE LOSES HIS 
ORIGINAL HEART; WHEN HE REFORMS, HE RECOVERS 
HIS ORIGINAL HEART. THE CHINESE TERM FOR “ CON- 
SCIENCE ” IS THE “ ORIGINAL HEART.” 


Mencius said, “ All men have a mind which cannot 
bear 40 see the sufferings of others. 

“When I say that all men have a mind which cannot 
bear Zo see the sufferings of others, my meaning may be 
illustrated thus : even now-a-days, if men suddenly see 
a child about to fall into a well, they will without excep- 
tion experience a feeling of alarm and distress. They 
will feel so, not as a ground on which they may gain the 
favor of the child’s parents, nor as a ground on which 
they may seek the praise of their neighbors and friends, 
nor from a dislike to the reputation of having been un- 
moved by such a thing. 

“From this case, we may perceive that the feeling of 
commiseration is essential to man, that the feeling of 
shame and dislike is essential to man, that the feeling of 
modesty and complaisance is essential to man, and that 
the feeling of approving and disapproving is essential to 
man. 

“ The feeling of commiseration is the principle of be- 
nevolence, ‘The feeling of shame and dislike is the 
principle of righteousness. The feeling of modesty and 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 2it 


complaisance is the principle of propriety. The feeling 
of approving and disapproving is the principle of knowl- 
edge. 

“Men have these four principles just as they have 
their four limbs. When men having these four princi- 
ples, yet say of themselves that they cannot develop them, 
they play the thief with themselves ; and he who says of 
his prince that he cannot develop them, plays the thief 
with his prince. 

“Since all men had these four principles in themselves, 
let them know to give them all their development and 
completion, and the issue will be like that of fire which 
has begun to burn, or that of a spring which has begun 
to find vent. Let them have their complete development, 
and they will suffice to love and protect all within the 
four seas. Let them be denied that development, and 
they will not suffice for a man to serve his parents with.” 

When the duke Wan of T’aing was crown prince, hay- 
ing to go to Ts’oo, he went by way of Sung, and visited 
Mencius. 

Mencius discovered to him how the nature of man is 
good, and when speaking, always made laudatory refer- 
ence to Yaou and Shun. 

When the crown prince was returning from Ts’oo, he 
again visited Mencius. Mencius said to him, “ Prince, 
do you doubt my words? The path is one and only one.” 

“Shin Kan said to the duke of Ts’e, ‘ They were men. 
ITamaman. Why should I stand in awe of them?’ 
Yen Yuen said, ‘What kind of man was Shun? What 
kind of man am I? He who exerts himself will also be- 
come such as he was.’ Kung-ming E said, ‘King Win 
is my teacher.’ ” 


212 MENCIUS. 


Mencius said, “ The great man does not think before- 
hand of his words that they may be sincere, nor of his 
actions that they may be resolute: he simply speaks and 
does what is right. 

“The great man is he who does not lose his child’s 
heart.”* 

The philosopher Kaou said, “ JZan’s nature is like the 
Ke willow, and righteousness is like a cup or a bowl. 
The fashioning benevolence and righteousness out of 
man’s nature is like the making cups and bowls from the 
KE willow.” 

Mencius replied, “Can you, leaving untouched the 
nature of the willow, make with it cups and bowls? You 
must do violence and injury to the willow, before you can 
make cups and bowls with it. If you must do violence 
and injury to the willow in order to make cups and bowls 
with it, 072 your principles you must in the same way do 
violence and injury to humanity in order to fashion from 
it benevolence and righteousness! Your words, alas! 
would certainly lead all men on to reckon benevolence 
and righteousness to be calamities.” 

The philosopher Kaou said, “ JZan’s nature is like wa- 
ter whirling around 77 a corner. Open a passage for it 
to the east, and it will flow to the east ; open a passage 
for it to the west, and it will flow to the west. Man’s na- 
ture is indifferent to good and evil, just as the water is 
indifferent to the east and west.” 

Mencius replied, “ Water indeed w7// flow indifferently 





* Child’s heart—the original good heart with which, as the Chi- 
nese sages taught, every man is born: unlike the doctrine of the 
man of Nazareth when he was teaching Nicodemus, 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 213 


to the east or west, but will it flow indifferently up or 
down? The tendency of man’s nature to good is like the 
tendency of water to flow downwards. ‘There are none 
but have this tendency to good, just as all water flows 
downwards. 

“ Now by striking water and causing it to leap up, you 
may make it go over your forehead, and, by damming and 
leading it, you may force it up a hill; but are such move- 
ments according to the nature of water? It is the force 
applied which causes them. When men are made to do 
what is not good, their nature is dealt with in this way.” 

The disciple Kung-too said, “ The philosopher Kaou 
says, ‘ Man’s nature is neither good nor bad.’ 

“ Some say, ‘ Man’s nature may be made to practice 
good, and it may be made to practice evil, and accord- 
ingly, under Wan and Woo, the people loved what was 
good, wile under Yew and Le, they loved what was 
cruel.’ 

“ Some say, ‘ The nature of some is good, and the na- 
ture of others is bad.’ 

“ And now you say, ‘ The nature is good.’ Then are 
all those wrong?” 

Mencius said, “ From the feelings proper to it, it is 
constituted for the practice of what is good. This is 
what I mean in saying that ¢he nature is good. 

“Tf men do what is not good, the blame cannot be 
imputed to their natural powers. 

“The feeling of commiseration belongs to all men ; 
so does that of shame and dislike ; and that of rever- 
ence and respect ; and that of approving and disapprov- 
ing. The feeling of commiseration zmplies the principle 
of benevolence ; that of shame and dislike, the principle 


214 MENCIUS. 


of righteousness ; that of reverence and respect, the 
principle of propriety ; and that of approving and disap- 
proving, the principle of knowledge. Benevolence, right- 
eousness, propriety, and knowledge are not infused into 
us as from without. We are certainly furnished with 
them. And a different view is simply from want of re- 
flection. Hence it is said, ‘Seek, and you will find them. 
Neglect, and you will lose them.’ Men differ from one 
another in regard to them : some as much again as oth- 
ers, some five times as much, and some to an incalcula- 
ble amount: it is because they cannot carry out fully 
their zatural powers. 

“Tt is said in the Book of Poetry, 

‘ Heaven, in producing mankind, 

Gave them their various faculties and relations with 
their specific laws. 

These are the invariable rules of nature for all to hold. 
' And aZ/ love this admirable virtue.’ ” 

Confucius said, “ The maker of this ode knew, indeed, 
the principle of our nature! We may thus see that 
every faculty and relation must have its law, and since 
there are invariable rules for all to hold, they conse- 
quently love this admirable virtue.” 

Mencius said, “ The trees of the New mountain were 
once beautiful. Being situated, however, in the borders 
of a large State, they were hewn down with axes and 
bills: and could they retain their beauty? Still, through 
the activity of the vegetative life day and night, and the 
nourishing influence of the rain and dew, they were not 
without buds and sprouts springing forth, but then came 
the cattle and goats, and browsed upon them. To these 
things is owing the bare and stript appearance of the 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS, 215 


mountain, which, when people see, they think it was 
never finely wooded. But is this the nature of the moun- 
tain ? 

“ And so also of what properly belongs to man: shall 
it be said that the mind of any man was without benev- 
olence and righteousness? The way in which a man 
loses his proper goodness of mind is like the way in 
which the trees are denuded by axes and bills. Hewn 
down day after day, can it—t‘he mind—retain its beauty? 
But there is a development of its life day and night, and 
in the ca/m air of the morning, just between night and 
day, the mind feels in a degree those desires and aver- 
sions which are proper to humanity, but the feeling is not 
strong, and it is fettered and destroyed by what takes 
place during the day. This fettering taking place again 
and again ; the restorative influence of the night is not 
sufficient to preserve the proper goodness of the mind; 
and when this proves insufficient for that purpose, the 
nature becomes not much different from that of the irra- 
tional animals, which, when people see, they think that it 
never had those powers which J assert. But does this 
condition represent the feelings proper to humanity ? 

“ Therefore, if it receive its proper nourishment, there 
is nothing which will not grow. If it lose its proper 
nourishment, there is nothing which will not decay away.” 

Confucius said, “ Hold it fast, and it remains with you. 
Let it go, and you lose it. Its outgoing and incoming 
cannot be defined as to time or place. It is the mind 
of which this is said!” 

Mencius said, “ Benevolence is man’s mind, and right- 
eousness is man’s path. 

“ How lamentable is it to neglect the path, and not 


216 MENCIUS. 


pursue it ; to lose this mind, and not know how to seek 
it again ! : 

“When men’s fowls and dogs are lost, they know to 
seek for them again ; but they lose their mind, and do 
not know to seek for it again. 

“The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek 
for the lost mind. 

“He who has exhausted all his mental constitution 
knows his nature. Knowing his nature, he knows 
heaven. 

“To preserve one’s mental constitution, and nourish 
one’s nature, is the way to serve heaven. 

“When neither a premature death nor long life causes 
a man any double-mindedness, but he waits in the culti- 
vation of his personal character for whatever issue : this 
is the way in which he establishes his Aeaven-ordained 
being. 

“Let a man not do what zs own sense of righteousness 
tells him not to do, and let him not desire what his sense 
of righteousness tells him not to desire: to act thus is all 
he has to do. 

“ What belongs by his nature to the superior man can- 
not be increased by the largeness of his sphere of action, 
nor diminished by his dwelling in poverty and retirement: 
for this reason, that it is determinately apportioned to 
him dy heaven. 

“What belongs by his nature to the superior man are 
benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge. 
These are rooted in his heart ; their growth and mani- 
festation are a mild harmony appearing in the counte- 
nance, a rich fullness in the back, and the character im- 


* 
METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 217 


parted to the four limbs. Those limbs understand é 
arrange themselves, without being told. 

“ All men have some things which they cannot bear ; 
extend that feeling to what they can bear, and benevo- 
lence will be the result. . All men have some things . 
which they will not do ; extend that feeling to the things 
which they do, and righteousness will be the result. 

“Tf a man can give full development to the feeling 
which makes him shrink from injuring others, his benevo- 
lence will be more than can be called into practice. If 
he can give full development to the feeling which refuses 
to break through, or jump over a wa//, his righteousness 
will be more than can be called into practice. 

“If he cam give full development to the real feeling of 
dislike with which he receives the salutation, ‘ Thou,’ 
‘Thou,’ he will act righteously in all places and circum- 
stances. 

“When a scholar speaks what he ought not to speak, 
by guzle of speech seeking to gain some end ; and when 
he does not speak what he ought to speak, by guéle of 
silence seeking to gain some end: both these cases are 
of a piece with breaking through @ neighbor's wall. 

“Yaou and Shun were what they were by nature ; 
T’ang and Woo were so by returning Zo natural virtue. 

“When all the movements in the countenance and 
every turn of ¢he body, are exactly what is proper, that 
shows the extreme degree of the complete virtue. Weep- 
ing for the dead should be from zea/ sorrow, and not 
because of the living. The regular path of virtue is to 
be pursued without any bend, and from no view to emol- 
ument. The words should all be necessarily Sncaie) 
not with any desire to do what is right.” . 

fe) 


2 
218 MENCIUS. 


HEAVEN DECREES—HEAVEN DIRECTS. 


Mencius said, “ When right government prevails in 
the empire, Z7inces of little virtue are submissive to those 
of great; and “hose of little worth, to those of great. 
When bad government prevails in the empire, princes of 
small power are submissive to those of great, and the 
weak to the strong. Both these cases are the rule of 
Heaven. They who accord with heaven are preserved, 
and they who rebel against heaven perish. ; 

“That which is done without man’s doing it, is from 
heaven. That which happens without man’s causing it 
to happen, is from the ordinance of heaven.” 

E Yin said, “ Heaven’s plan in the production of man- 
kind is this: that they who are first informed should 
instruct those who are later in being informed ; and they 
who first apprehend principles should instruct those who 
are slower in doing so. 

“There is an appointment for everything. A man 
should receive submissively what may be correctly as- 
cribed thereto. 

“Therefore, he who has the true idea of what is eav- 
en's appointment will not stand beneath a precipitous 


. wall. 


“ Death sustained in the discharge of one’s duties may 
correctly be ascribed to the appointment of heaven. 

“Death under handcuffs and fetters cannot correctly 
be so ascribed. 

“The bodily organs with their functions belong to our 
heaven-conferred nature. But aman must be a sage be- 
fore he can satisfy the design of his bodily organization. 


——— 


. 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 219 


HEAVEN REWARDS AND PUNISHES ; THEREFORE, TO ESCAPE 
CALAMITIES BE ALWAYS IN HARMONY WITH THE ORDI- 
NANCES OF GOD. 


Mencius said, “Calamity and happiness in all cases 
are men’s own seeking. 

“This is illustrated by what is said in the Book of 
Poetry: 

‘ Be always studious to be in harmony with the ordi- 
nances of God, 

So you will certainly get for yourself much happi- 
ness.’ 

“When heaven sends down calamities it is still possi- 
ble to escape from them ; when we occasion the calami- 
ties ourselves, it is not possible any longer to live. 

“ A man must first despise himself, and then others 
will despise him. A family must first destroy itself, and 
then others will destroy it. This is illustrated in the 
passage of the T’ae Kéi, ‘When Heaven sends down 
calamities, it is still possible to escape them. When we © 
occasion the calamities ourselves, it is not possible any 
longer to live.’” 


DO RIGHT. LEAVE EVENTS WITH HEAVEN. 


Mencius said, “If you do good, among your descend- 
ants in after generations there shall be one who will 
attain to the Imperial dignity. A prince lays the foun- 
dation of the inheritance, and hands down the beginning 
which he has made, doing what may be continued dy his 


220 MENCIUS. 


successors. As to the accomplishment of the great result, 
that is with heaven. Be strong to do good. ‘That is all 
your business.” 


RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF THINGS. LOVE OF RIGHTE- 
QUSNESS MORE THAN LIFE. 


Mencius said, “I like fish, and I also like bears’ paws. 
If I cannot have the two together, I will let the fish go, 
and take the bears’ paws.* So, I like life, and I also 
like righteousness. If I cannot keep the two together, I 
will let life go, and choose righteousness. 

“I like life indeed, but there is that which I like more 
than life, and, therefore, I will not seek to possess it by 
any improper ways. I dislike death indeed, but there is 
that which I dislike more than death, and therefore there 
are occasions when I will not avoid danger. 

“If among the things which man likes there were noth- 
ing which he liked more than life, why should he ‘not use 
every means by which he could preserve it? If among 
the things which man dislikes there were nothing which 
he disliked more than death, why should he not do every- 
thing by which he could avoid danger? 

“There are cases when men by a certain course might 
preserve life, when they do not employ it ; when by cer- 
tain things they might avoid danger, and they will not-do 
them. 





* Bears’ palms have been a delicacy in China from the earliest 
times. They bear a high price in China. They are valued because 


they possess, as is supposed, qualities which may nourish man’s 
strength. 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 221 


“ Therefore, men have that which they like more than 
life, and that which they dislike more than death. They 
are not men of distinguished talents and virtue only who 
have this mental nature. All men have it ; what belongs 
to such men is simply that they do not lose it. 

“ Here are a small basket of rice and a platter of soup, 
and the case is one in which the getting them will pre- 
serve life, and the want of them will be death : if they are 
offered with an insulting voice, even a tramper will not 
receive them, or if you first tread upon them, even a beg- 
gar will not stoop to take them. 

“ Here is a man whose fourth finger is bent and cannot 
be siretched out straight. It is not painful, nor does it 
incommode his business, and yet if there be any one who 
can make it straight, he will not think the way from Ts’in 
to Ts’oo far zo go to him; because his finger is not like 
the finger of other people. 

“When a man’s finger is not like those of other peo- 
ple, he knows to feel dissatisfied ; but if his mind be not 
like that of other people, he does not know to feel dis- 
satisfaction. ‘This is called ‘Ignorance of the relative 
importance of things.’ 

“There is no part of himself which a man does not 
love, and as he loves all, so he must nourish all. There 
is not an inch of skin which he does not love, and so 
there is. not an inch of skin which he will not nourish. 
For examining whether 47s way of nourishing be good or 
not, what other rule is there but this, that he determine 
by reflecting on himself where it should be applied ? 

“ Some parts of the body are noble, and some are ig- 
noble ; some great, and some small. The great must 
not be injured for the small, nor the noble for the igno- 


222 MENCIUS. 


ble. He who nourishes the little belonging to him is a 
little man, and he who nourishes the great is a great 
man. 

“ He who nourishes one of his fingers, neglecting his 
shoulders or his back, without knowing ¢hat he is doing 
§0, is a man who resembles a hurried wolf. 

“ A man who om/y eats and drinks is counted mean by 
others : because he nourishes what is little to the neglect 
of what is great. 

“Tf a man, fond of his eating and drinking, were not 
to neglect what is of more importance, how should his 
mouth and belly be considered as no more than an inch 
of skin?” * 

Shun-yu K’wan said, “Is it the rule that males and 
females shall not allow their hands to touch in giving or 
receiving anything?” Mencius replied, “It is the rule.” 
K’win asked, “If a man’s sister-in-law be drowning, 
shall he rescue her with his hands?” Mencius said, 
“He who would not so rescue a drowning woman is a 
wolf. For males and females not to allow their hands 
to touch in giving and receiving is the general rule ; when 
a sister-in-law is drowning, to rescue her with the hand is 
a peculiar exigency.” 

K’ win said, “ The whole empire is drowning. How 
strange it is that you will not rescue it!” 

Mencius answered, “ A drowning empire must be res- 





* Our philosopher talks well, but how far below the Teacher of 
Galilee when he spake of the life more than meat, and when he 
asked, ‘“‘ What will a man give in exchange for his soul?” One 
had in view only the life which now is; the other, that. life which 
lasts while the eterna] years of God endure. 


~ 


METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 225 


cued with right principles, as a drowning sister-in-law 
has to be rescued with the hand. Do you wish me to 
rescue the empire with my hand?” 


THE GOLDEN RULE. SELFISHNESS UNPROFITABLE. HE 
THAT WOULD HAVE FRIENDS MUST SHOW HIMSELF 
FRIENDLY. 


Mencius said, “If a man love others, and no responsive 
attachment is shown to him, let him turn inwards and ex- 
amine his own benevolence. If he zs ¢rying ¢o rule oth- 
ers, and his government is unsuccessful, let him turn in- 
wards and examine his wisdom. If he treats others po- 
litely, and they do not return his politeness, let him turn 
inward and examine his own feeling of respect. 

“When we do not, by what we do, realize what we de- 
sive, we must turn inwards, and examine ourselves in ev- 
ery point. When a man’s person is correct, the whole 
empire will turn to him with recognition and submission. 

“It is said in the Book of Poetry, ‘ Be always studious 
to be in harmony with the ordinances ef God, and you 
will obtain much happiness.’ ” * 

Mencius said to the king Seuen, of Ts’e, “When 
the prince regards his ministers as his hands and feet, 
his ministers regard their prince as their belly and heart ; 
when he regards them as his dogs and horses, they re- 
gard him as any other man ; when he regards them as 





* With what measure a man meets, it will be measured to him 
again ; and consequently, before a man deals with others, expecting 
them to be affected by him, he should first deal with himself. 


224 MENCIUS. 


the ground or as grass, they regard him as a robber and 
an enemy. | 

“ That whereby the superior man is distinguished from 
other men is what he preserves in his heart ; namely, be- 
nevolence and propriety. 

“The benevolent man loves others. The man of pro- 
priety shows respect to others. 

“He who loves others is constantly loved by them. 
He who respects others is constantly respected by them. 

“ Here is a man, who treats me in a perverse and un- 
reasonable manner. ‘The superior man in such a case 
will turn round upon himself—‘ I must have been want- 
ing in benevolence ; I must have been wanting in pro- 
priety : how should this have happened to me ?’ 

“He examines himself, and is specially benevolent. 
He turns round upon himself, and is sfecial/y observant 
of propriety. ‘The perversity and unreasonableness of 
the other, Zowever, are still the same. The superior man 
will agai turn round on himself—‘I must have been 
failing to do my utmost.’ 

“If one acts with a vigorous effort at the law of reci- 
procity, when he seeks for ¢he realization of perfect virtue, 
nothing can be closer than his approximation to it. 

“The principle of the philosopher Yang was—‘ Each 
one for himself.’ Though he might have benefited the 
whole empire by plucking out a single hair, he would not 
have done it. | 

“The. philosopher Mih loves all equally. If by rub- 
bing smooth his whole body from the crown to the heel, 
he could have benefited the empire, he would have 
done it.” 


IDEAL OF THE PERFECT MAN. 225 


CHAPTER III. 


IDEAL OF THE PERFECT MAN. 





THE SUPERIOR MAN. 


Mencius said, “The superior man makes his advan- 
ces in what he is learning with deep earnestness and by 
the proper course, wishing to get hold of it as in himself. 
Having got hold of it in himself, he abides in it calmly 
and firmly. Abiding in it calmly and firmly, he reposes 
a deep reliance on it. Reposing a deep reliance on it, 
he seizes it on the left and right, meeting everywhere 
with it as a fountain from which things flow. It is on 
this account that the superior man wishes to get hold of 
what he is learning as in himself.”* 

To dwell in the wide house of the world, to stand in 
the correct seat of the world, and to walk in the great 
path of the world ; when he obtains his desire./or office, 
to practice his principles for the good of the people ; and 





* Understand the subject studied to be man’s own self; some- 


, thing belonging to his own nature. 


10* 


226 MENCIUS. 


when that desire is disappointed, to practice them alone; 
to be above the power of riches and honors to make 
dissipated ; of poverty and mean condition to make 
swerve from principle, and of power and force to make 
bend: these characteristics constitute the great man. 

Mencius said, “ The superior man has three things in 
which he delights, and to be ruler over the empire is 1.ot 
one of them : 

“ That his father and mother are both alive, and that 
the condition of his brothers affords no cause for anx- 
iety: this is one delight. 

“That when looking up, he has no occasion for shame’ 
before heaven ; and below, he has no occasion to blush 
before men: this is a second delight. 

“That he can get from the whole empire the most tal- 
ented individuals, and teach and nourish them: this is 
the third delight. 

“There are five ways in which the superior man effects 
his teaching : 

“There are some on whom his influence descends like 
seasonable rain. 

“There are some whose virtue he perfects, and some 
of whose talents he assists the development. 

“There are some whose inquiries he answers. 

“There are some who privately cultivate and correct 
themselyes. 

“These five ways are the methods in which the supe- 
rior man“effects his teaching.” 

Mencius said, “ When the superior men of old had 
errors they reformed them. The superior men of the 
present time, when they have errors, persist in them. — 
The errors of the superior men of old were like eclipses _, 


IDEAL OF THE PERFECT MAN. 227 


of the sun and moon—all the people witnessed them, and 
when they had reformed them, all the people looked up 
to them wth their former admiration. But do the supe- 
rior men of the present day only persist in their errors ? 
They go on to raise apologizing discussions about them, 
likewise.” 


THE GOOD MAN DELIGHTS IN WHAT IS GOOD. 


Mencius said, “ When any one told Tsze-loo that he 
had a fault, he rejoiced. 

“ When Yu heard good words, he bowed ¢o the speaker. 

“The great Shun had a still greater delight in what 
was good. He regarded virtue as the common property 
of himself and others, giving up his own way to follow 
that of others, and delighting to learn from others to prac- 
tice what was good. 

“From the time when he plowed and sowed, exercised 
the potter’s art, and was a fisherman, to the time when 
he became emperor, he was continually learning from 
others. 

“To take example from others to practice virtue, is to 
help them in the same practice. Therefore, there is no 
attribute of the superior man greater than his helping 
man to practice virtue.” 

Haou-sang Puh-hae asked, saying, “What sort of a 
man is Yo-ching?” Mencius replied, “He is a good 
man, a real man.” 

“What‘do you mean by ‘ A good man, a real man?” 

The reply was, “A man who commands our liking, is 

what is called a good man. 


228 MENCIUS. 


“ He whose goodness is part of himself, is what is called 
a real man. 

“He whose goodness has been filled up, is Becks is 
called a beautiful man. 

“ He whose completed goodness is brightly dicphiate 
is what is called a great man. 

“ When this great man exercises a sec influ- 
ence, he is what is called a sage. 

“ When the sage is beyond our knowledge, he is what 
is called a spirit-man.” 

Confucius said, “ I hate a semblance which is not the 
reality. I hate the darnel, lest it be confounded with 
the corn. I hate glib-tonguedness, lest it be confounded 
with righteousness. I hate sharpness of tongue, lest it 
be confounded with sincerity. 

“The superior man seeks simply to bring back the un- 
changing standard, and that being rectified, the masses 
are roused to virtue. When they are so aroused, forth- 
with perversities and glossed wickedness disappear.” 


EDUCATION. 


The minister of agriculture taught the people to sow 
and reap, cultivating the five kinds of grain. When the 
_ five kinds of grain were brought to maturity, the people 
all enjoyed a comfortable subsistence. Now men pos- 
sess a moral nature ; but if they are well fed, warmly 
clad, and comfortably lodged, without being taught at the 
' same time, they become almost like the beasts. This 
was a subject of anxious solicitude to the sage Shun, and 
he appointed Seé to be the minister of instruction, to 


IDEAL OF THE PERFECT MAN. 229 


teach the relations of humanity: how, between father 
and son, there should be affection ; between sovereign 
and minister, righteousness ; between husband and wife, 
attention to their separate functions ; between old and 
young, a proper order ; and between friends, fidelity.* 

The highly meritorious emperor said to him, “ Encour- 
age them ; lead them on ; rectify them ; straighten them ; 
help them ; give them wings: thus causing them to be- 
come possessors of themselves. ‘Then follow this up by 
stimulating them, and conferring benefits on them.” 
When the sages were exercising their solicitude for the 
people in this way, had they leisure to cultivate the 
ground ? T . 

The imparting by a man to others of his wealth is 
called “a kindness.” The teaching others what is good 
is called “ the exercise of fidelity.” The finding a man 
who shall benefit the empire is called “ benevolence.” 
Hence, to give the empire to another man would be easy ; 
to find a man who shall benefit the empire is difficult. 

Mencius said, “In learning extensively, and discussing 
minutely what is learned, the object of the superior man 
is that he may be able to go back and set forth in brief 
what is essential.” 





* These are the five relations on which much has been written, 
and which embody about everything that the Chinese regard as the 
Chief End of Man. . 


t Here we may trace the origin of the system of Education and 
Literary Examinations which has prevailed in China to the present 
time. There are three advanced degrees, and only those who have 
obtained these degrees are eligible respectively to the different 
grades of office. 


230 MENCIUS, 


KNOWLEDGE IS ACQUIRED BY SUCCESSIVE STEPS, AND BY 
PERSEVERANCE. 


' 


Mencius said, “ Confucius ascended the eastern hill, 
and Loo appeared to him small. He ascended the T’ae 
mountain, and all beneath the heavens appeared to him 
small. So, he who has coutemplated the sea finds it dif- 
ficult to think anything of o¢Aer waters, and he who has 
wandered in the gate of the sage, finds it difficult to think 
anything of the words of others.* 

“ Flowing water is a thing which does not proceed till 
it has filled the hollows zz zts course. ‘The student who 
has set his mind on the doctrines of ¢he sage, does not 
advance to them but by completing one lesson after an- 
other. 

“ He who rises at cock-crowing, and addresses him- 
self earnestly to the practice of virtue, is a disciple of 
Shun. 

“ He who rises at cock-crowing, and addresses him- 
self earnestly to the pursuit of gain, is a disciple of Chih. 

“Tf you want to know what separates Shun from Chih, 
it is simply this: the interval between ¢he thought of gain © 
and the thought of virtue. 

“ A man with definite aims to be accomplished may be 
compared to one digging a well. To dig the well toa 
depth of seventy-two cubits, azd stop without reaching 
the spring, is after all throwing away the well.” fT 





* The T’ae mountain is the chief of the five great mountains of 
China. It lay on the extreme east of T’se, in the present district 
of T’ae-ngan. 

+ That labor only is to be prized which accomplishes the object. 


IDEAL OF THE PERFECT MAN. 231 


Kung-sun Ch’ow said, “ Lofty are your principles and 
admirable, but zo earn them may well be likened to as- 
cending the heavens—something which cannot be reach- 
ed. Why not adapt your teaching so as to cause learners to 
consider them attainable, and so daily exert themselves.” 

Mencius said, “ A great artificer does not, for the sake 
of a stupid workman, alter or do away with the marking 
line. E did not, for the sake of a stupid archer, change 
his rule for drawing the bow. 

“ The superior man draws the bow, but does not dis- 
charge the arrow. Zhe whole thing seems to leap before 
the learner. Such is his standing exactly in the middle 
of the right path. Those who are able, follow him. 

“ A carpenter or a carriage-maker may give a man the 
circle and square, but cannot make him skillful 7 the use 
of them.” 

Mencius said, “Is the arrow-maker less benevolent 
than the maker of armor of defense? And yet, the ar- 
row-maker’s only fear is lest men shall not be hurt, and 
the armor-maker’s only fear is lest men should be hurt. 
So it is with the priest and the coffin-maker. The choice 
of a profession, therefore, is a thing in which great cau- 
tion is required.” 


DILIGENCE AND FIDELITY THE WAY TO PREFERMENT. 


-Mencius said, “ When those occupying inferior situa- 
tions do not obtain the confidence of the sovereign, they 
cannot succeed in governing the people. There is a way 
to obtain the confidence of the sovereign : if one is not 
trusted by his friends, he will not obtain the confidence 


232 MENCIUS. 


of his sovereign. There 1s a way of being trusted by 
one’s friends: if one do not serve his parents so as to 
make them pleased, he will not be trusted by his friends. 
There is a way to make one’s parents pleased: if one, 
on turning his thoughts inward, finds a want of sincer- 
ity, he will not give pleasure to his parents. There is a 
way to the attainment of sincerity in one’s self: if a man 
do not understand what is good, he will not attain sincer- 
ity in himself. 

“ Therefore, sincerity is the way of heaven. To think 
how to be sincere is the way of man. 

“ Never has there been one possessed of complete sin- 
cerity, who did not move others. Never has there been 
one who had not sincerity who was able to move others. 

“ Confucius was once keeper of stores, and he then 
said, ‘ My calculations must all be right. That is all I 
have to care about.’ He was once i» charge of the pub- 
lic fields, and he then said, ‘The oxen and sheep must 
be fat, and strong, and superior. ‘That is all I have to 
care about.’ * 

“ When one is in a low situation, to speak of high mat- 
ters is acrime. When a scholar stands in a prince’s 
court, and his principles are not carried into practice, it 
is a shame to him.” ~ 

Kung-sun Ch’ow said, “It is said, in the Book of Poe- 
try, 

“<« He will not eat the bread of idleness ! ’ 

“ How is it that we see superior men eating without 





* Be content with your condition, and perform well the duties 
belonging to it. Be faithful in a few things, and you may be made 
ruler over many things. 


IDEAL OF THE PERFECT MAN. 233 


laboring?” Mencius replied, “When a superior man 
resides in a country, if its sovereign employ his counsels, 
he comes to tranquillity, wealth, honor, and glory. If the 
young in it follow his instructions, they become filial, 
obedient to their elders, true-hearted, and faithful. What 
greater example can there be than this of not eating the 
bread of idleness? 

“ The people are the most important element 7 @ na- 
tion ; the spirits of the land and grain are the next ; the 
sovereign is the lightest. 

“ Therefore, to gain the peasantry is the way to be- 
come emperor ; to gain the emperor is the way to become 
a prince of a State ; to gain the prince of a State is the 
way to become a great officer.” 


TRIALS AND HARDSHIPS PREPARE FOR GREAT SERVICES. 


Mencius said, “ Shun rose from among the channeled 
fields. Foo Yué was called to office from the midst of 
his building frames ; Kaou-Kih from his fish and salt ; 
Kwan E-woo from the hands of his gaoler ; Sun-shuh 
Gaou from zs hiding by the phen and Pih-le He 
from the market-place. 

“ Thus, when heaven is about to confer a great office 
on any man, it first exercises his mind with suffering, and 
his sinews and bones with toil. it exposes his body to 
hunger, and subjects him to extreme poverty. It con- 
founds his undertakings. By all these methods it stim- 
ulates his mind, hardens his nature, and supplies his in- 
competencies. 

“ Men for the most part err, and are afterwards able 


234 MENCIUS. 


to reform. They are distressed in mind and perplexed 
in their thoughts, and then they arise to vigorous reform- 
ation. When things have been evidenced in men’s looks, 
and set forth in their words, then they understand them. 

“ If a prince have not about his court families attached 
to the laws and worthy counselors, and if abroad there 
are not hostile States or other external calamities, his 
kingdom will generally come to ruin. 

“ From these things we see how life springs from sor- 
row and calamity, and death from ease and pleasure.” 


UNMERITED FAME NOT LASTING. 


The disciple Seu said, “ Chung-ne often praised water, 
saying, ‘O water! O water!’ What did he find in wa- 
ter fo praise?” 

Mencius replied, “There is a spring of water ; how it 
gushes out! It rests not day nor night. It fills up every 
hole, and then advances, flowing on to the four seas. 
Such is water having a spring! It-was this which he 
found in it to praise. 

“‘ But suppose that the water has no spring. In the 
seventh and eighth months, when the rain falls abund- 
antly, the channels in the fields are all filled, but their 
being dried up again may be expected in a short time. 
So a superior man is ashamed of a reputation beyond 
his merits.” 

A man of Ts’e had a wife and a concubine, and lived 
together with them in his house. When their husband 
went out, he would get himself well filled with wine and 
flesh, and then returned, and on his wife’s asking him 


IDEAL OF THE PERFECT MAN. 435 


with whom he ate and drank, they were sure to be all 
wealthy and honorable people. The wife informed the 
concubine, saying, “ When our good man goes out, he is 
sure to come back. having partaken plentifully of wine 
and flesh. I asked with whom he ate and drank, and 
they are all, z# seems, wealthy and honorable people, 
and yet no people of distinction ever come here. I will 
spy out where our good man goes.” Accordingly, she 
got up early in the morning, and privately followed 
wherever her husband went. Throughout the whole city 
there was no one who stood or talked with him. At 
last he came to those who were sacrificing among the 
tombs, beyond the outer wall, on the east, and begged 
what they had over. Not being satisfied, he looked 
about, and went to another party: and this was the way 
‘in which he got himself satiated. His wife returned, 
and informed the concubine, saying, “It was to our hus. 
band that we looked up in hopeful contemplation, with 
whom our lot is cast for life; and now these are his 
ways!” On this, along with the concubine, she reviled 
their husband, and they wept together in the middle 
hall. In the meantime, the husband, knowing nothing 
of all this, came in with a jaunty air, carrying himself 
proudly to his wife and concubine. 

In the view of a superior man, as to the ways by which 
men seek for riches, honors, gain, and advancement, 
there are few of their wives and concubines who would 
not be ashamed and weep together on account of them. 


) 36 MENCIUS. 


CHAPTER IV. 


DOMESTIC REGULATIONS. 


ON SELECTING A RESIDENCE, AND CHOICE OF ASSOCIATES. 


Confucius said, “It is virtuous manners which consti- 
tute the excellence of a neighborhood. Ifa man, in se- 
lecting a residence, do not fix on one where such prevail, 
how can he be wise? Now, benevolence is the most 
honorable dignity conferred by Heaven, and the quiet 
home in which man should dwell. Since no one can 
hinder us from being so, if yet we are not benevolent, 
this is being not wise.” 

Wan Chang asked Afencius, saying, “Some say that 
Confucius, when he was in Wei, lived with the ulcer 
doctor, and when he was in Ts’e with the attendant 
Tseih Hwan: was it so?”. Mencius replied, “No; it 
was not so. ‘Those are the inventions of men fond of 
strange things. 

“Confucius went into office according to propriety, 
and retired from it according to righteousness. In re- 
gard to his obtaining office or not obtaining it, he said, 


DOMESTIC REGULATIONS, 237 


‘That is as ordered.’ But if he had lodged with the at- 
tendant Tseih Hwan, that would neither have been ac- 
cording to righteousness nor any ordering of Heaven. 

“When Confucius, being dissatisfied in Loo and Wei, 
had left those States, he met with the attempt of Hwan, 
the master of the horse of Sung, to intercept and kill 
him. At that time, though he was in circumstances of 
distress, he lodged with the city-master Ching, who was 
then a minister of Chow, the prince of Ch’in. 

“JT have heard that the characters of ministers about 
court may be discerned from those whom they entertain, 
and those of stranger officers from those with whom 
they lodge. If Confucius had lodged with the ulcer- 
doctor and with the attendant Tseih Hwan, how could 
he have beén Confucius ?” 

Mencius said, “ Pih-e would not allow his eyes to look 
on a bad sight, nor his ears to listen to a bad sound. 
He would not serve a prince whom he did net approve, 
nor command a people whom he did not esteem. Ina 
time of good government he took office ; and on the occur- 
rence of confusion, he retired. He could not bear to 
dwell either in @ court from which a lawless government 
emanated, or among lawless people. He considered his 
being in the same place with a villager, as if he were to 
sit amid mud and coals with his court robes and court 
cap. In the time of Chow, he dwelt on the shores of 
the North sea, awaiting the purification of the empire. 
Therefore, when men zow hear the character of Pih-e, 
the corrupt become pure, and the weak acquire deter- 
mination.” 

E Yin said, “ Hwuy of Lew-hea was not ashamed to 
serve an impure prince, nor did he think it low to be an 


238 MENCIUS. 


inferior officer. When advanced to employment, he did 
not conceal his virtue, du¢ made it a point to carry out 
his principles. When dismissed ‘and left without office, 
he yet did not murmur. When straitened by poverty, 
he yet did not grieve. When thrown into the company 
of village people, he was quite at ease, and could not 
bear to leave them. He hada saying, ‘You are you, and 
IamI. Although you stand by my side with breast and 
arms bare, or with your body naked, how can you defile 
me?’ ‘Therefore when men now hear the character of 
Hwuy of Lew-hea, the mean become generous, and the 
niggardly become liberal. 

“As to Confucius, when it was proper to go away 
quickly, he did so ; when it was proper to delay, he did 
so ; when it was proper to keep in retirement, he did so ; 
when it was proper to go into office, he did so:. this was 
Confucius.” * 3 

Mencius said, “ Pih-e among the sages was the pure 
one; E Yin was the one most inclined to take office ; 
Hwuy of Lew-hea was the accommodating one, and 
Confucius was the timeous one. 

“In Confucius we have what is called a complete con- 
cert. A complete concert is when the /arge bell pro- 
claims the commencement of the music, and the ringing 
stone proclaims its close. The metal sound commences 
the blended harmony of all the instruments, and the 
winding up with the stone terminates that blended har- 
mony. ‘The commencing that harmony is the work of 
wisdom. The terminating it is the work of sageness. 

As a comparison for wisdom, we may liken it to skill, 





* Confucius did at every time what the circumstances required. — 


DOMESTIC REGULATIONS. 239 


and as a comparison for sageness, we may liken it to 
strength: as in the case of shooting at a mark a thou- 
sand paces distant. That you reach it is owing to your ~ 
strength, but that you hit the mark is not owing to your 
strength.” 

Wan Chang asked Mencius, saying, “I venture to ask 
the principles of friendship.” Mencius replied, “ Friend- 
ship should be maintained without any presumption on 
the ground of one’s. superior age, or station, or the cir- 
cumstances of his relatives. Friendship with a@ man is 
friendship with his virtue, and does not admit of assump- 
tions of superiority. 

“ Respect shown by inferiors to superiors is called 
giving to the noble the observance due to rank. Re- 
spect shown by superiors to inferiors is called giving 
honor to.talents and virtue. ‘The rightness in each case 
is the same. 

“In regard to inferior creatures, the superior man is 
kind to them, but not loving. In regard to people gen- 
erally, he is loving to them, but not affectionate. He is 
affectionate to his parents, and lovingly disposed to peo- 
ple generally. He is lovingly disposed to people gener- 
ally, and kind to creatures. 

“The wise embrace all knowledge, but they are most 
earnest about what is of the greatest importance. The 
benevolent embrace all in their love, but what they con- 
sider of the greatest importance is, to cultivate an earn- 
est affection for the virtuous.” 


® 


249 MENCIUS. 


PARENTAL GOVERNMENT. 


Kung-sun Ch’ow said, “ Why is it that the superict 
man does not himself teach his son?” 

Mencius replied, “ ‘The circumstances of the ‘case for- 
bid its being done. ‘The teacher must inculcate what is 
correct. When he inculcates what is correct, and his 
lessons are not practiced, he follows them up with being 
angry. When he follows them up with being angry, 
then, contrary to what should be, he is offended with his 
son. At the same time, the pupil says, ‘My master incul- 
cates on me what is correct, and he himself does not 
proceed in accorrect path.’ The result of this is, that 
father and son are offended with each other. When 
father and son come to be offended with each other, the 
case is evil. 

“The ancients exchanged sons, and one taught the 
son of another. 

“ Between father and son there should be no reprov- 
ing admonitions to what is good. Such reproofs lead to 
alienation, and than alienation there is nothing more in- 
auspicious.” 

“ Mencius said, ‘Those who keep the Mean, train up 
those who do not, and those who have abilities, train up 
those who have not; and hence men rejoice in having 
fathers and elder brothers who are possessed of virtue 
and talent. If they who keep the Mean spurn those who 
donot, and they who have abilities spurn those who have 
not, then the space between them—those so gifted and 
the ungifted—will not admit an inch.” 


DOMESTIC REGULATIONS. = Sapa 


FILIAL AND FRATERNAL DUTIES. 


Mencius said, “There are three things which are un- 
filial, and to have no posterity is the greatest of them.* 

“ The richest fruit of benevolence is this: the service 
of one’s parents. The richest fruit of righteousness is 
this : the obeying one’s elder brothers. 

“The richest fruit of wisdom is this: the knowing 
those two things, and not departing from them. The 
richest fruit of propriety is this: the ordering and adorn- 
ing those two things. The richest fruit of music is this: 
the rejoicing in those two things. When they are rejoiced 
in, they grow. Growing, how can they be repressed? 
When they come to this state that they cannot be re- 
pressed, then unconsciously the feet begin to dance and 
the hands to move. 

*‘ There are five things which are said in the. common 
practice of the age to be unfilial. The first is laziness 
in the use of one’s four limbs, without attending to the 
nourishment of his parents. The second is gambling 
and chess-playing, and being fond of wine, without at- 
tending to the nourishment of his parents. The third is 
being fond of goods and money, and selfishly attached 
to his wife and children, without attending to the nour- 
ishment of his parents. The fourth is following the de- 
sires of one’s ears and eyes, so as to bring his parents 





* To be without posterity is the greatest fault, because it is an 
offense against the whole line of ancestors, and terminates the sac- 
rifices to them. This accounts for the early attention and care on 
the part of parents in securing wives for their sons, and for the 
strong desire for the birth of sons and grandsons. 

Il 


242 MENCIUS, 


to disgrace. The fifth is being fond of bravery, fighting 
and quarreling so as to endanger his parents. Is Chang 
guilty of any of these things? 

“ Now between Chang and his father there arose disa- 
greements, he, the son, reproving his father, to urge him 
to what was good. 

“To urge one another to what is good by reproofs is 
the way of friends. But such urging between father and 
son is the greatest injury to the kindness which should 
prevail between them.” 

Wan-chang said, “ When his parents love him, a son 
rejoices and forgets them not. When his parents hate 
him, though they punish him, he does not murmur.” 

Mencius said, “ The desire of the child is towards his 
father and mother. When he becomes conscious of the 
attractions of beauty, his desire is towards young and 
beautiful women. When he comes to have a wife and 
children, his desire is towards them. When he obtains 
office, his desire is towards his sovereign: if he cannot 
get the regard of his sovereign, he burns within, Bz 
the man of great filial piety, to the end of his life, has 
his desire towards his parents. In the great Shun I see 
the case of one whose desire at fifty years was towards 
them.” 


ON ESPOUSALS. 


Mencius said, “ When a son is born, what is desired 
for him is that he may have a wife ; when a daughter is 
born, what is desired for her is that she may have a hus- 
band. This feeling of the parents is possessed by all 


DOMESTIC REGULATIONS. 243 


men. If the young people, without waiting for the orders 
of their parents and the arrangements of the go-betweens, 
shall bore holes to steal a sight of each other, or get over 
the wall to be with each other, then their parents and all 
other people will despise them.” * 

It is said in the Book of Poetry, 

“Tn marrying a wife, how ought a man to proceed? 

He must inform his parents.” 

Mencius said, “ That male and female should dwell 
together is the greatest of human relations.” 


MARRIAGE RITES, WOMAN’S DUTIES, COURT ETIQUETTE, 


Mencius said, “ Have you not read the Ritual Usages ? 
‘At the capping of a young man, his father admonishes 
him. At the marriage of a young woman, her mother 
admonishes her, accompanying her to the door on her 
leaving, and cautioning her with these words: You are 
going to your home. You must be respectful; you must be 
careful. Do not disobey your husband.’ ‘Thus, to look 
upon compliance as their correct course is the rule for 
women.” 





* The bridegroom is supposed not to see the bride till after the 
marriage, has been consummated, though they do in many cases 
contrive some way “to steal a sight.””. The arrangements are usu- 
ally made by professional persons, called ‘‘ go-betweens;” they are 
marriage brokers; but parents often betroth their own children 
without the intervention of the “middle men,” and that, too, some- 
times while they are in infancy. 

t To be respectful and careful, to comply and obey, is woman’s 
place as taught and practiced in the Middle Kingdom. 

On the morning of the wedding, or a day or two previous, the 


244 MENCIUS. 


It is said in the Book of Rites, “ A prince ploughs 
himself, and is assisted dy the people, to supply the millet 
Jor sacrifice. THis wife keeps silkworms, and unwinds 
their cocoons, to make the garments for sacrifice. If the 
victims be not perfect, the millet not pure, and the dress 
not complete, he does not presume to sacrifice. And 
the scholar who, out of office, has no holy field, in the 
same way does not sacrifice. ‘The victims for slaughter, 
the vessels, and the garments, not being all complete, he 
does not presume to sacrifice, and then neither may he 
dare to feel happy.” Is there not here sufficient ground 
also for condolence ? 

According to the prescribed rules, in the court, indi- 
viduals may not change their places to speak with one 
another, nor may they pass from their ranks to bow to 
one angther. 





father of the young man who is about to be married, in the great 
hall of the house and in presence of guests, formally places a cap 
upon his head (the son kneeling) in token of his being about to 
pass into manhood ; the father also gives him a new name. The 
son still kneeling, the father delivers to him a short address con- 
cerning the duties and responsibilities of his new relations; and 
the son, having promised to observe the duties, is permitted to 
arise. 

On the marriage day, the mother, after her farewell instructions, 
places her daughter in the sedan chair which is waiting at'the door; 
the mother retires into her house weeping, and the procession 
moves off to the house of the bridegroom with the weeping bride 
locked up alone in the sedan. 


' DOMESTIC REGULATIONS, 245 


BURIAL RITES. 


Mencius went from Ts’e to Loo to bury 47s mother. On 
his return to Ts’e, he stopped at Ying, where Ch’ung 
Yu begged to put a question to him, and said, “ Former- 
ly, in ignorance of my incompetency, you employed me 
to superintend the making of a coffin. As you were then 
pressed by the urgency of the business, I did not venture to 
put any question to you. Now, however, I wish to take 
the liberty to submit the matter. The wood of the cof 
fin, it appeared to me, was too good.” 

Mencius replied, “ Anciently, there was no rule for 
the size of either the inner or the outer coffin. In mid- 
dle antiquity, the inner coffin was made seven inches 
thick, and the outer one the same. This was done by all, 
from the emperor to the common people, and not simply 
for the beauty of the appearance, but because they thus 
satisfied ‘he natural feelings of their hearts. 

“If prevented dy statutory regulations from making 
their coffins in this way, men cannot have the feeling of 
pleasure. If they have not the money ¢o make them in 
this way, they cannot have the feeling of pleasure. When 
they were not prevented, and had the money, the an- 
_ cients all used this style. Why should I alone not do 
so? 

“ And moreover, is there no satisfaction to the natural 
feelings of a man, in preventing the earth from getting 
_ near to the bodies of his dead? 

“JT have heard that the superior man will not for all 
the world be niggardly to his parents. 

“Tn the most ancient times, there were some who did 


246 MENCIUS. 


not inter their parents. When their parents died, they 
took them up and threw them into some water-channel. 
Afterwards, when passing by them, ¢Aey saw foxes and 
wildcats devouring them, and flies and gnats biting at 
them. The perspiration started out upon their fore- 
heads, and they looked away, unable to bear the sight. 
It was not on account of other people that this perspira- 
tion flowed. ‘The emotions of their hearts affected their 
faces and eyes, and instantly they went home, and came 
back with baskets and spades and covered the bodies. 
If the covering them thus was indeed right, you may see 
that the filial son and virtuous man, in interring 7 @ 
handsome manner their parents, act according to a proper 
rule.” 


MOURNING FOR PARENTS—THE TIME AND CEREMONIES, 


When the duke Ting, of T’ang, died, the crown prince 
said to Yen Yew, “ Formerly, Mencius spoke with me in 
Sung, and in my mind I have never forgotten Azs words, 
Now, alas! this great duty to my father devolves upon 
me; I wish to send you to ask the advice of Mencius, 
and then to proceed to its various services.” 

Yen Yew accordingly proceeded to Tsow, and consulted 
Mencius. Mencius said, “Is this not good ? In discharg- 
ing the funeral duties to parents, men indeed feel con- 
strained to do their utmost.” The philosopher Tsang 
said, “‘ When parents are alive, they should be served ac- 
cording to propriety ; when they are dead, they should 
be buried according to propriety ; and they should be 
sacrificed to according to propriety: this may be called 


DOMESTIC REGULATIONS. | 247 


filial piety. The ceremonies to be observed by the princes 
I have not learned, but I have heard these points: that 
the three years’ mourning, the garment of coarse cloth 
with its lower edge even, and the eating of congee, were 
equally prescribed by the three dynasties, and binding 
on all, from the emperor to the mass of the people.” 

Yen Yew reported the execution of his commission, 
and rhe prince determined that the three years’ mourning 
should be observed. His aged relatives, and the body 
of the officers, did not wish that it should be so, and said, 
“The former princes of Loo, that kingdom which we 
honor, have none of them observed this practice, nei- 
ther have any of our own former princes observed it. 
For you to act contrary to their example is not proper, 
Moreover, the History says, ‘In the observances of 
mourning and sacrifice, ancestors are to be followed,’ 
meaning that they received those things. from a proper 
source 70 hand them down.” 

The prince said again to Yen Yew, “ Hitherto, I have 
not given myself to the pursuit of learning, but have found 
-my pleasure in horsemanship and sword exercise, and 
now I don’t come up to the wishes of my aged relatives 
and the officers. I am afraid I may not be able to dis- 
charge my duty in the great business ¢hat J have entered 
on; do you again consult Mencius for me.” Ox this, 
Yen Yew went again to Tsow, and consulted Mencius. 
Mencius said, “ It is so, but he may not seek @ remedy in 
others, but only in himself. Confucius said, ‘When a prince 
dies, his successor intrusts the administration to the 
prime minister. He sips the congee. His face is of a 
deep black. He approaches the place of mourning, and 
weeps. Of all the officers and inferior ministers there is 


248 MENCIUS. . 


not one who will presume not to join in the lamentation, 
he setting them this example. What the superior loves, 
his inferiors will be found to love exceedingly. The re- 
lation between superiors and inferiors is like that between 
the wind and grass. The grass must bend, when the 
wind blows upon it.’ The business depends on the 
prince.” 

Yen Yew returned with this answer to his commission, 
and the prince said, “It is so. The matter does indeed 
depend on me.” So for five months he dwelt in the shed, 
without issuing an order or a caution. All the officers 
and his relatives said, “ He may be said to understand 
the ceremonies.” When the time of interment arrived, 
from all quarters of the State they came to witness it. 
Those who had come from other States to condole with 
him, were greatly pleased with the deep dejection of his 
countenance and the mournfulness of his wailing and 
weeping. 

Mencius said, “ The nourishment of parents when liv- - 
ing is not sufficient to be accounted the great thing. It 
is only in the performing their obsequies when dead, that 
we have what can be considered the great thing. 

“Not to be able to keep the three years’ mourning, 
and to be very particular about that of three months, or 
that of five months ; to eat immoderately, and swill down 
the soup, and at the same time to inquire about ¢he pre- 
cept not to tear the meat with the teeth : such things show 
what I call an ignorance of what is most important.” 


DOMESTIC REGULATIONS. 249 


RELIGIOUS RITES. 


Mencius said, “Though a man may be wicked, yet if 
he adjust his thoughts, fast, and bathe, he may sacrifice 
to God. 

“ When a prince endangers the altars of the spirits of 
the land and grain, he is changed, and another appointed 
in his place. 

“ When the sacrificial victims have been perfect, the 
millet in its vessels all pure, and the sacrifices offered at 
their proper seasons, if yet there ensue drought, or the 
waters overflow, the spirits of the land and grain are 
changed, and others appointed in their place.” 


ON GIVING AND RECEIVING ‘PRESENTS. 


Wan Chang asked JZencius, saying, “I venture to ask 
what fecling of the mind is expressed in the presents of 
friendsnip.” Mencius replied, “ Zhe feeling of respect.” 

“ How is it,” pursued Chang, “that the declining a 
present is accounted disrespectful?” The answer was, 
“When one of honorable rank presents a gift, to say zz 
the mind, ‘ Was the way in which he got this righteous or 
not? I must know this before I can receive it; this is 
deemed disrespectful, and therefore presents are not de- 
clined.” 

* Wan Chang asked again, “ When one does not take 

on him in so many express words to refuse the gift, but 

having declined it in his heart, saying, ‘It was taken by 

him unrighteously from the people,’ and then assigns 
Pe tg 


250 MENCIUS. — 


some other reason for not receiving it, is not this a 
proper course?” JZencius said, “ When the donor offers 
it on a ground of reason, and his manner of doing so is 
according to propriety : in such a case, Confucius would 
have received it.” 

Wang Chang said, “ Here, now, is one who stops and 
robs people outside the gates of the city. He offers his 
gift on a ground of reason, and does so in a manner ac- 
cording to propriety ; would the reception of it, so ac- 
quired by robbery, be proper?” Mencius replied, “ It 
would not be proper.” 

It is said in the Book of History, “ In presenting an 
offering to a superior, most depends on the demonstra- 
tions of respect. If those demonstrations are not equal 
to the things offered, we say there is no offering: that is, 
there is no act of the will in presenting the offering.” * 

Mencius said, “ To feed @ scholar and not love him, is 
to treat him as a pig. To love him and not respect him, 
is to keep him as a domestic animal. 

“ Honoring and respecting are what exist before any 
offering of gifts. 

“If there be honoring and respecting without the re- 
ality of them, a superior man may not be retained by 
such empty demonstrations.” 





* A gift is valuable for the giver’s sake, and for the motives 
which prompted it. 


MISCELLANEOUS. “9 51 


CHAPTER V. 





MiSCELLANEOUS. 





HISTORICAL SCRAPS, 


Ke-sun said, “ A strange man was Tsze-shuh E. He 
pushed himself into the service of government. zs 
prince declining to employ him, he had to retire indeed, 
but he again schemed that his son or younger brother 
should be made a high officer. Who indeed is there of 
men but wishes for riches and honor? But he only, 
among the seekers of these, tried to monopolize the con- 
spicuous mound. 

“ Of old time, the market-dealers exchanged the arti- 
cles which they had for others which they had not, and 
simply had certain officers to keep order among them. — 
It happened that there was a mean fellow, who made it a 
point to look out for a conspicuous mound, and get up 
upon it. Thence he looked right and left, to catch in his 
net the whole gain of the market. The people all thought 
his conduct mean, and therefore they proceeded to lay a 
tax upon his wares. ‘The taxing of traders took its rise 
from this mean fellow.” 

There being some who would not become the subjects 







252 


of ae, king W 


















our Eeasty of Chow, that we may be made ha 2 
him.” So they joined themselves, as subjects, to the 

great city of Chow. ‘Thus, the men of station of Sha 
took baskets full of black and yeliow silks to meet _ 
men of station of Chow, and the lower classes of the one 
met those of the other, with baskets of rice and vesse 
of congee. Woo saved the people from the midst of fire 


them. 

Mencius said, “ When Shun was living amid the deep 
retired mountains, dwelling with the trees and rocks, and — 
wandering among the deer and swine, the difference be- | 
tween him and the rude inhabitants of those remote hills. 
appeared very small. But when he heard a single good 
word, or saw a single good action, he was like a stream 
or ariver bursting its banks and flowing out in an irre- 
sistible flood.” 


ITEMS CONTAINING: REFERENCES TO ANCIENT EMPERORS, | 2 


In the time of Yaou, when the world had not yet beer : 
perfectly reduced to order, the vast waters, flowing out 
of their channels, made a universal inundation. Vege- 6s 
tation was luxuriant, and birds and beasts swarmed. The 
various kinds of grain could not be grown. The birds 
and beasts pressed upon men. The paths marked by the 
feet of beasts and prints of birds crossed one another 


253 


















on os mountains and zz the marshes, so that the 
_ birds and beasts fled away to hide themselves. Yu sep- 
pe wated the nine streams, cleared the courses of the Tse 
and T’ah, and led them all to the sea. He openeda 
vent also for the Joo and Han, and regulated the course 
“s of the Hwae and Sze, so that they all flowed into the 
_ Kéang. When this was done, it became possible for the 
eople of the Middle Kingdom to cultivate the ground and 
food for themselves. During that time, Yu was eight 
ars away from his home, and though he thrice passed 
door of it, he did not enter. Although he had wished 
cultivate the ground, could he have done so? 
A long time has elapsed since this world of men re- 
ved its being, and there has been along its history now 
eriod of good order, and now a period of confusion. 
[In the time of Yaou, the waters, flowing out of their 
hannels, inundated the Middle Kingdom. Snakes and 
ragons occupied it, and the people had no place where 
ey could settle themselves. In the low grounds they 
ade nests for themselves, and in the high grounds they 
> caves.* It is said in the Book of History, “The 





* The great Yu drained off the overflowed lands in the center of 
China, especially that through which the Yellow river flows, and 
rendered it habitable. 

The “nests” were huts on high-raised platforms. These are 
said to have been the summer habitations of the earliest men; and 


254 MENCIUS. 


waters in their wild course warned me.” Those “waters 
in their wild course” were the waters of the great inun- 
dation. | 

Shun employed Yu to reduce the waters to order. Yu 
dug open ¢heir obstructed channels, and conducted them to 
the sea. He drove away the snakes and dragons, and 
forced them into the grassy marshes. Ovx ¢his, the waters 
pursued their course through the country, even the waters 
of the Kéang, the Hwae, the Ho, and the Han, and the 
dangers and obstructions which they had occasioned were 
removed. ‘The birds and beasts which had injured the 
people a/so disappeared, and after this men found the 
plains available for them, and occupied them. 

After the death of Yaou and Shun, the principles that 
mark sages fell into decay. Oppressive sovereigns arose 
one after another. By the time of Chow, the empire was 
again in a state of great confusion. 

Chow-Kung assisted king Woo, and destroyed Chow. | 
He smote Yen, and after three years put its sovereign to 
death. He drove Fei-leen to a corner by the sea, and 
slew him. The States which he extinguished amounted 
to fifty. He drove far away also the tigers, leopards, rhi- 
noceroses, and elephants ; and the empire was greatly 
delighted. It is said in the Book of History, “Great and 
splendid were the plans of king Win! Greatly were 
they carried out by the energy of king Woo! ‘They are 
for the assistance and instruction of us who are of an 
after day. They are all in principle correct, and deficient 
in nothing.” 





in winter, “ artificial caves,” 7. ¢., caves hollowed out from heaps 
of carth raised upon the ground. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 255 


Again the world fell into decay, and principles faded 
away. Perverse speakings and oppressive deeds waxed 
rife again. There were instances of ministers who mur- 
dered their sovereigns, and of sons who murdered their 
fathers. 

Once more, sage emperors cease to arise, and the 
princes of the States give the reins to their lusts. Un- 
employed scholars indulge in unreasonable discussions, 
The words of Yang Choo and Mih Teih fill the em- 
pire. Jf you listen to people’s discourses throughout it, 
you will find that they have adopted the views either of 
Yang or of Mih. Vow, Yang’s principle is “each one 
for himself,” which does not acknowledge che caims of 
the sovereign. Mih’s principle is, “to love all equally,” 
which does not acknowledge the peculiar affection due to 
a father. But to acknowledge neither king nor father is 
to be in the state of a beast. Kung-ming E said, “In 
their kitchens there is fat meat. In their stables there 
are fat horses. But their people have the look of hun- 
ger, and on the wilds there are those who have died of 
famine. ‘This is leading on beasts to devour men.” If 
the principles of Yang and Mih are not stopped and the 
principles of Confucius not set forth, then those perverse 
speakings will delude the people, and stop up the path 
of benevolence and righteousness. When benevolence 
and righteousness are stopped up, beasts will be led on 
to devour men, and men will devour one another. 

In former times Yu repressed the vast waters of the 
inundation, and the empire was reduced to order. Chow- 
Kung’s achievements extended even to the barbarous 
tribes of the west and north, and he drove away all fero- 
cious animals, and the people enjoyed repose. Confu- 


256 3 MENCIUS. 


cius completed the “ Spring and Autumn,” and rebellious 
ministers and villainous sons were struck with terror.* 

Mencius said, “ Yu hated the pleasant wine, and 
loved good words. - 

“ T’ing held fast the Mean, and employed men of tal- 
ents and virtue without regard to where they came from. 

“King Win looked on the people as he would on a 
man who was wounded, and he looked towards the right 
path as if he could not see it. 

“ King Woo did not slight the near, and did not for- 
get the distant. : 

“ The. duke of Chow desired to unite in himself the 
virtues of those kings, those founders of the three dynas- 
ties, that he might display in his practice the four things 
which they did. If he saw anything in them not suited 
to his time, he looked up, and thought about it from day- 
time into the night, and when he was fortunate enough 
to master the difficulty, he sat waiting for the morning.” 


DETACHED SENTENCES. 


Confucius said, “ I have heard of men using the doc- 
trines of our great land to change barbarians, but I have 
never yet heard of any being changed by barbarians.” 

If Confucius was three months without being employed 
by some sovereign, he looked anxious and unhappy. 





* Confucius completed the annals of the times between B.c. 721 
and 479, called the “Spring and Autumn Annals,” in which by 
commending the virtues of some kings and setting forth the vices 
and cruelties of others, he hoped to present motives for the re- 
forming of his own times. 


MISCELLANEOUS. . 257 


Among the ancients, if an officer was three months 
unemployed by a sovereign, he was condoled with. 

Mencius said, “ When we examine the sages—both the 
earlier and the later—their principles are found to be 
the same.” 

The disciple Yen, in an age of confusion, dwelt in a 
mean, narrow lane, having his single bamboo cup of 
rice, and his single gourd dish of water; other men 
could not have endured the distress, but he did not allow 
his joy to be affected by it. Confucius praised him. 

Heaven’s plan in the production of mankind is this: 
that they who are first informed should instruct those 
who are later in being informed, and they who first ap- 
prehend principles should instruct those who are slower 
to do so. 

When the prince wishes to see a man of talents and 
virtue, and does not take the proper course #0 get his 
wish, it is as if he wished him to enter zs palace, and 
shut the door against him. Now, righteousness is the 
way, and propriety is the door, but it is only the superior 
man who can follow this way, and go out and in by this 
door. 

Mencius said to Wan Chang, “The scholar whose 
virtue is most distinguished in a village shall make 
friends of all the virtuous scholars in the village. The 
scholar whose virtue is most distinguished throughout 
the State, shall make friends of all the virtuous scholars 
of that State. The scholar whose virtue is most dis- 
tinguished throughout the empire, shall make friends of 
all the virtuous scholars of the empire. 

“ When a scholar feels that his friendship with all the 
virtuous scholars of the empire is not sufficient Zo satisfy 


258 MENCIUS. 


him, he proceeds to ascend to consider the men of an- 
tiquity. He repeats their poems, and reads their books ; 
and as he does not know what they were as men, to as- 
certain this, he considers their history. This is to ascend 
and make friends of the men of antiquity. 

“The way of truth is like a great road. It is not dif- 
ficult to know it. The evil is only that men will not seek 
it. Do you go home and search for it, and you will have 
abundance of teachers. 

“A man may not be without shame. When nne is 
ashamed of having been without shame, he will after- 
wards not have occasion for shame. ‘The sense of shame 
is to a man of great importance. 

“Those who form contrivances and versatile schemes 
distinguished for their artfulness, do not allow their sense 
of shame to come into action. 

“What is to be done to secure perfect satisfaction ? 
Honor virtue and delight in righteousness, and so you 
may a/ways be perfectly satisfied. 

“Therefore, a scholar, though poor, does not let go 
his righteousness ; though prosperous, he does not leave 
his own path. 

“Poor, and not letting righteousness go: it is thus 
that the scholar holds possession of himself. Prosper- 
ous, and not leaving the proper path: it is thus that the 
expectations of the people are not disappointed. 

“The hungry think any food sweet, and the thirsty 
think the same of any drink, and thus they do not get 
the right taste of what they eat and drink. The hunger 
and thirst, in fact, injure ‘heir palate. And is it only 
the mouth and belly which are injured by hunger and 
thirst? Men’s minds are also injured by them. 


MISCELLANEOUS. . 3 259 


“Tf a man can prevent the evils of hunger and thirst 
from being any evils to his mind, he need not have any 
sorrow about not being up with other men.* 

“From this time forth, I know the heavy conse- 
quences of killing a man’s near relations. When a 
man kills another’s father, that other will kill his father ; 
when a man kills another’s elder brother, that other will 
kill his brother. So he does not himself indeed do the 
act, but there is only an interval detween him and it.” F 

“Anciently, the establishment of the frontier-gates 
was to guard against violence. 

“ Now-a-days, it is to exercise violence. 

“Anciently, men of virtue and talents, by means of 
their own enlightenment, made others enlightened. Now- 
a-days, it is tried, whzle they are themselves in darkness, 
and by means of that darkness, to make others enlight- 
ened. 

“There are the foot-paths along the hills ; if suddenly 
they be used, they become roads, and if as suddenly 
they are not used, the wild grass fills them up. Now, 
the wild grass fills up your mind. 

“ The exercise of love between father and son, she ob- 
servance of righteousness between sovereign and minister, 
the rules of ceremony between guest and host, “he display 
of knowledge in recognizing the talented, and the fudjill- 
ing the heavenly course of the sage: these are the ap- 
pointment of Hfeaven. But there is an adaptation of our 





* The importance of not allowing the mind to be injured by pov- 
erty and a mean condition. 


+ The thought of its consequences should make men careful re- 
specting their conduct. 


26055 =: MENCIUS. 


nature for them. The superior man does not say, in 
reference to them, ‘It is the appointment of Heaven.’” 
Mencius said, “ Words which are simple, while their 
meaning is far-reaching, are good words. Principles 
which, as held, are compendious, while their application ~ 
is extensive, are good principles.” 


MAXIMS. 


The prince who does not honor the virtuous, and de- 
light in their ways of doing, to this extent is not worth 
having to do with. | 

If medicine do not raise a commotion in the patient, 
his disease will not be cured by it. 

The determined officer never forgets that his end may 
be in a ditch or.a stream ; the brave officer never forgets 
that he may lose his head. 

The philosopher Tsang said, “They who shrug up 
their shoulders, and laugh in a flattering way, toil harder 
than the summer J/aborer in the fields.” ‘Tsze-loo said, 
“There are those who talk with people with whom they 
have no great community of feeling. If you look at their 
countenances, they are full of blushes. I do not desire 
Zo know such persons. By considering these remarks, 
the sfirzt which the superior man nourishes may be 
known.” 

To urge one’s sovereign to difficult achievements may 
be called showing respect for him. To set before him 
what is good and repress his perversities, may be called 
showing reverence for him. 

The compass and square produce perfect circles and 


MISCELLANEOUS. 261 


squares. By the sages, the human relations are perfectly 
exhibited. 

They wish to have no opponent in all the empire, but 
they do not seck to attain this by being benevolent. This 
is like a man laying hold of a heated substance, and not 
having jirst wetted his hands. It is said in the Book of 
Poetry— 

“ Who can take up a heated substance, 

Without wetting 27s hands ?” 

Mencius said, “Of all the parts of a man’s body there 
is none more excellent than the pupil of the eye. The 
pupil cannot Je used to hide a man’s wickedness. If 
within the breast all be correct, the pupil is bright. If 
within the breast all be not correct, the pupil is dull. 

“Listen to a man’s words and look at the pupil of his 
eye. How can a man conceal his character ? 

“ Men’s being ready with their tongues, arises simply 
from their not having been reproved. 

“The evil of men is, that they like to be teachers of 
others. 

“ Men must be decided on what they will nor do, and 
then they are able to act with vigor 72 what they ought to 
do. 

“There is heaven so high; there are the stars so dis- 
tant. If we have investigated their phenomena, we may, 
while sitting iz our places, go back to the solstice of a 
thousand years ago. 

“There is no greater delight than to be conscious of 
sincerity on self-examination. 

“ One’s position alters the air, just as the nurture af- 
fects the body. Great is the influence of position ! 


ah 


262 MENCIUS. 


“T have not heard of one’s principles being depend- 
ent for their manifestation on other men. 

“ He who stops short where stopping is not allowable, 
will stop short in everything. He who behaves shab- 
bily to those whom he ought to treat wel!, will behave 
shabbily to all. 

“ He who advances with precipitation will retire with 
speed. 

“ A bad year cannot prove the cause of death to him 
whose stores of grain are large; an age of corruption 
cannot confound him whose equipment of virtue is com- 
plete. 

“A man who loves fame may be able to decline a king- 
dom of a thousand chariots, but if he be not vea//y the 
man 0 do such a thing, it will appear in his countenance, 
in the matter of a dish of rice or a platter of soup.* 

“The disease of men is this: that they neglect their 
own fields, and go to weed the fields of others, and that 
what they require from others is great, while what they 
lay upon themselves is light. 

“Those who give counsel to the great should despise 
them, and not look at their pomp and display.T 

“To nourish the heart there is nothing better than to 
make the desires few.” 





* A man’s true disposition will often appear in small matters, 
though a love of fame may have carried him over great difficulties. 


+ Neither flatter nor fear; preach as plainly to the king as to 
his subject ; to the rich as to the poor, 


MISCELLANEOUS. 263 


THE SOURCE FROM WHICH MENCIUS DERIVED THE DOC- 
TRINES OF THIS BOOK. 


Mencius said, “ From Yaou and Shun down to T’ang 
were five hundred years and more. As to Yu and Kaou- 
yaou, they saw ¢hose earliest sages, and so knew their 
doctrines, while T’ang heard their doctrines as trams- 
mitted, and so knew them. 

“From T’ang to king Wan were five hundred years 
and more. As to E Yin, and Lae Choo, they saw T’ang 
and knew his doctrine, while king Wan heard them as 
transmitted, and so knew them. : 

“From king Win to Confucius were five hundred 
years and more. As to T’ae-kung Wang, and San E- 
sang, they saw Wan, and so knew his doctrines ; while 
Confucius heard them as ¢ransmitted, and so knew them. 

“ From Confucius downwards until now, there are only 
one hundred years and somewhat more. ‘The distance 
in time from the sage is so far from being remote, and 
so very near at hand was the sage’s residence. In these 
circumstances, is there no one fo transmit his doctrines ? 
Yea, is there no one 40 do so?” 





PURSUIT Of KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 205 


SELECTIONS 


PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFT 
CULTIES.* 


See 


Formerly Chungne had the young Héangté for his 
teacher ; 

Even the sages of antiquity studied with diligence. 

Chaou, a minister of State, read the Confucian dia- 
logues, 

And he too, though high in office, studied assiduously. 

One copied lessons on reeds, another on slips of bam- 
boo ; 

These, though destitute of books, eagerly sought knowl- 
edge. 

[To vanquish sleep] one suspended his head [by the 








* From the San Tsz King—Tinnetrical Classic.—Czznese Repos- 
ttory, Vol. IV, 1835-6. The Sax 7sz King is the Chinese First 
Reader; and, like all text books in Chinese schools, it must be so 
thoroughly committed to memory that, from beginning to end, not 
a word may be missed in the recitation. 

12 


266 SELECTIONS. 


hair| from a beam, and another pierced his thigh with an 
awl; . . : 

Though destitute of instruction, these were laborious 
in study. | 

One read by light of glowworms, another by reflection 
of snow ; 

These, though their families were poor. did not omit 
to study. 

One carrying fagots, and another with his book tied 
to a cow’s horn, 

And while thus engaged in labor, studied with intens- 
ity. 

Soo Laoutseuen, when he was twenty-seven years of 
age, 

Commenced assiduous study, and applied his mind to 
books. 

This man, when old, grieved that he commenced so 
late ; 

You, who are young, ought early to think of these 
things. 

Behold Leing Haou, at the advanced age of eighty- 
two, 

In the imperial hall among many scholars, gains the 
first rank ; 

This he accomplished, and was by all regarded as a 
prodigy. 

You, youthful readers, should now resolve to be dili- 
gent. 

Yung, when only eight years old, could recite the odes ; 

And Pe, at the age of seven, understood the game of 
chess : 


PURSUIT OF KNOWLEDGE UNDER DIFFICULTIES. 267 


These displayed ability, and were by men deemed ex- 
traordinary ; 

And you, my youthful scholars, ought to imitate them. 

Tsae Wianke could play upon stringed instruments ; 

Seay Taouwidn, likewise, could sing and chant : 

These two, though girls, were intelligent and well-in- 
formed ; 

You, then, my lads, should surely rouse to diligence. 

Lew Ngan, of Tang, when only seven years old, 

Showing himself a noble lad, was employed to correct 
writing ; 

He, though very young, was thus highly promoted ; 

You, young learners, should strive to follow his exam- 
ple ; 

And he who does so will acquire similar honors. 

Dogs watch by night ; the cock announces the morn- 
ing. 

If any refuse to learn, how can they be esteemed men? 

The silkworm spins silk ; the bee gathers honey ; 

If men neglect to learn, they are inferior to the Lrutes. 

He who learns in youth, and acts when of mature age, 

Extends his influence to the prince, benefits the pzople, 

Makes his name renowned, renders illustrious his pa- 
rents, | 

Reflects glory on his ancestors, and enrich: posterity. 

Some for their offspring leave coffers filled with gold ; 

While I, to teach children, leave but one little book. 

Diligence has merit ; play yields no profit ; 

Be ever on your guard! Rouse.all your energies ! 


268 _ SELECTIONS. 


A CONFUCIAN TRACT. 


AN EXHORTATION TO MEN CONSTANTLY TO PRESERVE 
HEAVENLY PRINCIPLES AND A GOOD HEART.* 


Men, when first born, have a nature given to them by 
heaven. An ancient author has said: This (the origi- 
nal good heart) is an important thing; it is the most 
honorable and weighty thing in a man’s life ; he must not 
lose it ; because if this is preserved, then the man is 
alive : if this is not preserved, then the man is dead. If, 
although this is not preserved, the man still continues 
alive, there is after all nothing more left of him than the 
mere bodily shell containing wickedness ; there is no 
real life. 

Seih Kinghien says : Every day you ought to call out 
to yourself, “ Old Master! are you at home?” Jn the 





* Translated for the Chinese Repository, Vol. XV, 1846. 

The gratuitous printing and distribution of tracts is much practic- 
ed amongst the Chinese. The Confucianists do it to recall the 
people to the practice of virtue as taught by the sages; the Budd- 
hists do it in order to bring more to their temples, that their rev- 
enues may be augmented ;_ while all hope by these good works to 
accumulate merit. 


A CONFUCIAN TRACT. 269 


evening you ought, in a retired apartment, to ask your 
heart, saying, “ Do any of the matters which you have 
attended to to-day wound the heavenly principle, or do 
they agree with principle?” If your conduct does not 
correspond with heavenly principle, you ought in future 
carefully to guard against it. 

Heaven gives benevolence, politeness, justice, wisdom. 

(Here is given a representation of the heart. Inside 
of it are the words:) Benevolence, justice, politeness, 
wisdom, nature almost divine. 

(Outside, but connected with it, are the words :) The 
affections: joy, anger, sorrow, happiness: thoughts, 
wishes, purposes. 

The course of learning, proper for men, consists in re- 
storing reason to its pristine lustre, in an enlightened 
heart, and in making the summit of virtue the only point 
of rest. 

A map of the heart as it is gradually obscured and 
lost. (Here is given a representation of the heart in six 
phases, at first quite white, gradually blackening till it is 
altogether black.) 

1. When the infant is newly born, the original heart is 
altogether complete. 

2. When it is influenced by desire, the original heart 
begins to be obscured. 

3. When principle and lust war together, the original 
heart is half obscured. 

4. When the passions become dissolute, and more and 
more ardent, the original-heart is more than half ob- 
scured, . 

5. When the evening feelings (of remorse) are no 


270 STE-LECTIONS. 


longer preserved, the original heart is exceedingly ob- 
scured. 

6. When the few (remnants of good) are altogether 
lost, the original heart is completely obscured. 

A map of the heart as it is in the course of being re- 
paired and again brightened. 

(Here is a similar representation of the heart, at first 
altogether black, then gradually whitening, till it becomes 
all white.) 

1. Being involved and drowned in wickedness for a 
long time, the original heart is destroyed and lost. 

2. When we wash away what is unclean, and scrape 
off the dirt, the original heart begins to be restored. 

3. When we reform errors, and remove to virtue, the 
original heart is gradually being restored. 

4. When we subjugate self and put away selfishness, 
the original heart is half restored. 

5. When we put away licentiousness, and preserve sin- 
cerity, the original heart is very much restored. 

6. When all virtue is reverentially brought into action, 
the original heart is altogether restored. 


Heart. 


Only to use this straight heart is better than to study 
the classics. Gods and spirits will all respect you ; your 
after generations and descendants will prosper. 


DIL 


They who only use the heart as thus inverted will form 
into clubs, and beat and rob men. Vengeance will come 


A CONFUCIAN TRACT. 271 


upon themselves ; their wives and children when living 
will separate from them. 


Heart. 


Those who only use this transverse heart madly lose 
the good heart. When in hades they fall into hell; when 
in the world they are changed into brutes. 


pear! 


They who only use this slanting héart plot and scheme 
secretly to hurt men. Heaven’s net has no holes to let 
them pass through ; and their sons and grandsons are 
destroyed. 

In order to become virtuous, read this “heart and des- 
tiny” song, and as a matter of course you will have a re- © 
pentant heart and aroused reflections. 

When one’s heart is good, and his destiny (or lot) is 
also good, he will be both rich and honorable, and attain 
to old age. 

When the heart is good, and the destiny bad, heaven 
and earth will certainly protect. 

When the destiny is good and the heart bad, there will 
be premature death when only half way. 

When the heart and the destiny are both bad, there 
will be poverty and weariness, enduring grief and sor- 
row. 

The heart is the destiny’s origin ; the most important 
thing is to preserve the benevolent course (or benevo- 
lence and doctrine). 


272 SELECTIONS. 


Destiny is the root of one’s body ; it is difficult to as- 
certain previously whether it will be adverse or prosper- 
ous. 

If we believe in destiny, and do not cultivate the heart, 
it will be in vain to attempt to constrain heaven and 
earth to our purposes. 

We ought to cultivate the heart and leave our destiny 
to heaven ; he who made things will certainly requite us. 

Li Kwang slew the soldiers who surrendered to him ; 
though he was made a marquis, he soon emptily van- 
ished. 

Sung Kau saved the lives of ants, and early reached 
the highest literary rank. 

Virtue is the foundation of happiness, but wickedness 
is the omen of misery. 

We ought secretly to accumulate virtue and merit ; and 
preserve fidelity and filial piety. 

Riches and honors have their origin in our past con- 
duct. Happiness and misery comie on men’s own invita- 
tion. If we act benevolenily, and assist those who are 
in danger and misery, we act far better than if we were 
to fast and get up idol festivals. 

Heaven and earth exhibit vast kindness, the sun and 
moon do not shine with partiality. 

When ancestors attain to a long life, (in doing good) 
their descendants receive abundant happiness. 

My heart and other men’s hearts all desire honor and 
splendor ; when this man and that man have the same 
desire, why should they strive with others to obtain it? 

In the first place, do not deceive ; in the second place, 
do not cheat. 


A CONFUCIAN TRACT. 273 


If in our hearts there sprout up the desire to hurt men, 
spirits and gods will secretly deride us. 

If our destiny is five parts better than others, our hearts 
ought to be ten parts better. 

To have both the heart and the destiny amended and 
protected, is the precious concern of one’s whole life. 

In former times Lit Yuentsidng, who had been long 
afflicted with a lingering disease, wrote this heart and 
destiny song, and distributed one thousand copies of it. 
Suddenly he dreamed that a szez (a superior angelic be- 
ing) clothed in red garments, in company with an old 
man, arrived and said: Because you have composed this 
song and exhorted many to repentance, God has pity 
on your severe disease, and has on purpose sent a heav- 
enly physician to cure you. Your life was originally to 
be only forty, now it will be lengthened by two dozen of 
years. Having said this, they disappeared. He then 
took medicine and got quite better. Afterwards he died 
at the age of sixty-four. 

If in consequence of exhorting others to repent, men 
are thus rewarded, how much more if they reform their 
own hearts. For happiness and misery come by our own 
invitation. 

The reader of this tract ought not to despise it. He 
ought immediately to vow that he will practice virtue, 
and thus protect his family, produce good fortune, har- 
mony, peace and happiness. If by our efforts one man 
is induced to arouse his heart to virtuous conduct, we 

shall have ten merits. If ten men do so, we shall have 
one hundred merits ; if one hundred men, we shall be 
marked as having one thousand merits. We ought im- 
_ mediately to correct our hearts and practice virtue. This 
13 


274 SELECTIONS. 


is the excellent mode of securing what is good and avoid- 
ing what is evil.* : 

Ma Tsan-yuen (distributes this). 

Printed in Amoy, blacksmith’s jetty at Kom Kok Ku, 
the Divine Heaven Shop. 





* This is called a Confucian Tract, but there are several doc- 
trines alluded to which are not Confucian, but Budhistic ; such are 
the references to accumulating merit by saving the lives of animals, 
by repeating religious formulas, by making, printing, or distribut- 
ing religious tracts ; such also are the references to hell, or the pris- 
on of the earth, and to transmigration. Transmigration is also a 
doctrine of the Tauists. The pure Confucianists do not profess 
to teach anything at all in relation to a future state. The rewards 
and punishments which Confucius discoursed about had reference 
only to this life, though he spoke of them both as descending to 
posterity, and as flowing backwards to affect deceased ancestors. 


BUDHIST ‘TKACT. 295 


A BUDHIST TRACT.* 


Omita Fun (Amidha Budha) receives and leads those 
who worship Budha and are virtuous, to go far away and 
be born in the western region. 

In comparison with the repairing of great and small 
roads—with the rendering to others of various kinds of 
assistance—with whatever is most straight forward, rap- 
id, comprehensive, and easy, (in order to secure our 
future happiness)—everything is inferior to the worship 
of Budha. The whole object of the worship of Budha 
is to seek for life in the western region, and is to obtain 
a pure country. ‘This means that the western region is 
an extremely happy world, and is the pure country of 
Budha. ‘There are twelve classical or sacred books of 
the three Tsang, (a name of Budha) and each of these 
leads to the great happiness. There are eighty-four 
thousand doctrines, (or law gates) each of which exhorts 
us to go to the western region. But the doctrine which 





*Chinese Repository, Vol. XV. 
This is a translation of a sheet Tract, of the kind which are 
posted on the walls along the streets of the city, at the gates and 


market places, and in the covered resting places for travelers on 
the country roads, 


276 SELECTIONS. 


enjoins the worship of Budha is by far the best and most 
important ; and than it, there is no doctrine more con- 
ducive to a benevolent life. 

(The Budha) Kiiteh says, He who stands to the other 
doctrines, is like an ant ascending a lofty mountain, 
which in an hour gets only a single step in advance. But 
the doctrine which enjoins us to go to the western region, 
is like a vessel with full sails and favorable wind and 
tide, which in an instant advances one thousand miles. 
When we have once reached the western region, we are 
no more obliged to go out, or exposed to fall. The 
highest grade (of votaries) is able to ascend the Budha’s 
ladder. The lowest grade is far superior in happiness 
to those who live in an emperor’s palace. The worshipers 
of Budha’s merits are very lofty; their duties are very easy. 
All, whether honorable or mean, talented or stupid, old 
or young, male or female, the eater of ordinary food, or 
he who restricts himself to vegetables, the man who has 
left his family, (the bonze) or he who still remains in 
it—all may discharge these duties. _ 

I therefore exhort the virtuous males and believing 
females of the ten regions, (all the empire ) into whose 
hands this may come, immediately to put forth a believ- 
ing heart, and with the whole heart to worship Budha, 
and seek for a life in the western region. If perchance 
you are involved in family affairs, and endless worldly 
transactions, and cannot devote your whole mind to this, 
then you ought every day to recite Budha’s name three 
thousand or five thousand times, and make a regular 
constant practice of this. If even this you cannot do, 
your recitation of this sheet will be reckoned as one de- 
gree of merit. Having recited this one hundred times, 


BUDHIST TRACT. 277 


then dot one of the circles on the margin, and when the 
dots are all made they will amount to one hundred and 
fifty thousand. Whether it is for yourself, or for your 
father and mother, that you are asking for life in the 
western region; or whether you are asking for your 
father and mother protection from disease, peace, in- 
creased happiness, or protracted old age—in all such 
cases, you must jin the presence of Budha burn one of 
these sheets. If you pray for the happiness of your de- 
ceased parents, or for your six orders of relations and 
their relations, you must before the ancestral tablet, or 
over the graves, burn one of these sheets. Whether you 
worship the gods, or sacrifice to your ancestors, either at 
the festival of the tombs, the ninth solstice, the middle 
of the seventh month, or the end of the year, you must 
recite this sheet, and then burn it on the tombs of or- 
phans or of those who are buried by charity, and thus 
provide for the happiness of destitute souls, who have no 
relations to sacrifice to them. In doing all this you may 
rely on the strength of Budha to secure their translation 
to the pure country. You may do this once or many 
times, according to your ability ; and the merit you will 
obtain is inconceivable. 

I fervently desire that you may together put forth a 
believing heart, be together virtuous friends, together see 
Budha, and together arrive at the extreme of happiness. 


Hwui Chau, the head priest of the Drum Mountain 
(Ku Shan) monastery in Fuhkien, has respectfully printed 
this, bows and exhorts. 


2538 SELECTIONS. 


THE RATIONALISTS. 


As this is a sect which had already come into existence 
and begun to exert some influence when Confucius was 
endeavoring to inculcate his doctrines, and as, in the 
foregoing pages, there has been occasional reference to 
the Rationalists and the tenets which they held, a brief 
notice of them may be desired by the reader. 

Some portions of the article inserted here may be 
acceptable as showing what China has been able to pro- 
duce in the line of TRANSCENDENTALISM. What we 
give on this subject is partly from “THE MIDDLE 
KINGDOM,” by Dr. Williams. 


The sect of the Rationalists, or Zau Kia, was founded 
by Lautsz’ or Laukiun. He was born B.c. 604, in the 
kingdom of ‘Tsu, now Hupeh, fifty-four years before Con- 
fucius, and is believed to have had white hair and eye- 
brows at his birth, and been carried in the womb eighty 
years, whence he was called Lautsz’, the “ old boy,” and 
afterwards Laukiun, the “venerable prince.” According 
to Pauthier, who has examined his history with some at- 
tention, his parents were poor, and after entering mature 


THE RATIONALISTS. 279 


years, he was appointed librarian by the emperor, where 
he diligently applied himself to the study of the ancient 
books, and became acquainted with all the rites and his- 
tories of former times. During his life, he made a jour- 
ney through Central Asia, but what was its extent and 
duration is not recorded. His only philosophical work, 
the Zau Teh King, or Memoir on Reason and Virtue, 
was written before his travels; but whether the teachings 
contained in it are entirely his own, or were derived from 
hints imported from India and Persia, cannot be decided. 
A parallel has been suggested between the tenets of the 
Rationalists of China, the Zoroastrians of Persia, Es- 
senes of Judea, Gnostics of the primitive church, and the 
_ Eremites of the Thebaid, but a common source for their 
conformity—the desire to live without labor on the cre- 
dulity of their fellow men—explains most of the like- 
ness, without supposing that their tenets were derived 
from each other. 

The teachings of Lautsz’ are not unlike those of Zeno: 
both recommend retirement and contemplation as the 
most effectual means of purifying the spiritual part of our 
nature, annihilating the material passions, and finally re- 
turning to the bosom of the supreme Reason. 

He says, “ All material visible forms are only emana- 
tions from Zaz, or Reason: this formed all beings. Be- 
fore their emanation, the universe was only an indistinct, 
confused mass, a chaos of all the elements in a state of a 
germ or subtle essence.” 

In another section he says, “ All the visible parts of the 
universe, all beings composing it, the heavens and all the 
stellar systems—all have been formed of the first element- 
ary matter: before the birth of heaven and earth, there 


280 SELECTIONS. 


existed only an immense silence in illimitable space, an 
immeasurable void in endless silence. Reason alone cir- 
culated in this infinite void and silence.” 

In one of his sections Lautsz’ says, “ Reason has pro- 
duced one, one produced two, two produced three, and 
three made all things. All beings repose on the feminine 
principle, and they embrace, and envelop the male princi- 
ple; a fecundating breath keeps up the harmony.” 

He teaches the emanation and return of good beings 
into the bosom of Reason, and their eternal existence 
therein; but if not good, the miseries of successive births 
and their accompanying sorrows await them. His own 
life was passed in ascetic privacy, and he recommends 
the practice of contemplation, joined with the perform- 
ance of good deeds. Lautsz’ says, when enforcing be- 
nevolent acts : 7 

“The holy man has not an inexorable heart : 

He makes his heart like that of all men. 

The virtuous man should be treated as a virtuous man, 

The vicious man should likewise be treated as a virtuous 
man : 

This is wisdom and virtue. 

The sincere and faithful man should be treated as a 
sincere and faithful man, 

The insincere and unfaithful man should likewise be 
treated as a sincere and faithful man: 

This is wisdom and sincerity. 

The perfect man lives in the world tranquil and calm; 

It is only on account of the world for the happiness 
of man, that his heart experiences disquiet. 

Though all men think only of pleasing their eyes and 
their ears, 


THE RATIONALISTS. 281 


Those who are in a state of sanctity will treat them as 
a father treats his children.” 

One of the most celebrated Rationalist writers is 
Chwang-tsz’, a disciple of Lautsz’, from whom his follow- 
ers derive more of their opinions than from their master 
himself: his writings have been repeatedly commented 
upon by members of the fraternity, and are referred to 
as authoritative. In ancient times, small parties of them 
retired to secluded places to meditate upon virtue. When 
Confucius visited Lautsz’, the cynic upbraided the sage 
for his ambition in collecting so many disciples and seek- 
ing after office, and added that such a course of conduct 
was more likely to nourish pride than cherish the love 
of virtue and wisdom. 

“The wise man,” he said, “ loves obscurity ; far from 
being ambitious of offices, he avoids them. Persuaded 
that at the end of life, a man can only leave behind him 
such good maxims as he has taught to those who were in 
a state to receive and practice them, he does not reveal 
himself to all he meets: he observes time and place. 
If the times be good, he speaks; if bad, he keeps quiet. 
He who possesses a treasure conceals it with care lest it 
be taken from him; he is careful about publishing every- 
where that he has it at his disposal. The truly virtuous 
man makes no parade of his virtue, he does not announce 
to the world that he is a wise man. This is all I have to 
say; make as much of it as you please.” 

Such speculative teachings, and waiting till the times 
were good, were not adapted to entertain or benefit, and 
Confucius understood his countrymen and his own duty 
much better than Lautsz’, in doing all he could, by pre- 


282 SELECTIONS. 


cept and practice, to show them the excellence of what 
he believed to be right. 

Dr. Medhurst quotes one of the Chinese kisi oo 
who praises reason in a style of rhapsody : 

“What is there superior to heaven, and from which 
heaven and earth sprang? Nay, what is there superior 
to space, and which moves in space? The great Tau is 
the parent of space, and space is the parent of heaven 
and earth, and heaven and earth produced men and 
things. The venerable prince (Reason) arose prior to 
the great original, standing at the commencement of the 
mighty wonderful, and floating in the ocean of deep ob- 
scurity. He is spontaneous and self-existing, produced 
before the beginning of emptiness; commencing prior to 
uncaused existences, pervading all heaven and earth, 
whose beginning and end no years can circumscribe.” 

The Tauists suppose their founder was merely an 
impersonation of this power, and that he whom they call 
“the venerable prince, the origin of primary matter, the 
root of heaven and earth, the occupier of infinite space, 
the commencement of all things, further back than the 
utmost stretch of numbers can reach, created the uni- 
verse.” They notice three incarnations of him during 
the present epoch: one during the Shang dynasty, B.c. 
1407, one at the time of Confucius, and a third about 
A.D. 623, when a man of Shansi reported having seen an 
old man, who called himself Laukiun. 

Only the priests of this sect are regarded as its mem- 
bers ; they live in temples and small communities with 
their families, cultivating the ground attached to the es- 
tablishment, and thus perpetuate their body ; many lead 
a wandering life, and derive a precarious livelihood from 


THE RATIONALISTS. 283 


the sale of charms and medical nostrums. They shave 
the sides of the head, and coil the rest of the hair ina 
tuft upon the crown, thrusting a pin through it ; and are 
- moreover recognized by their slate-colored robes. They 
study astrology, and profess to have dealings with spirits, 
and their books contain a great variety of stories of 
priests who have done wonderful acts by their help. 

Formerly the title of Heavenly Doctors was conferred 
on them, and a superb temple erected to Laukiun, con- 
taining his statue: examinations were ordered in A.D. 
674 to be held in his Memoir on Reason, and some of 
the priests reached the highest honors in the State. Since 
that time they have degenerated, and are now looked 
upon as ignorant cheats and designing jugglers, who are 
quite as willing to use their magical powers to injure their 
enemies as to help those who seek their aid. 


‘Since the entrance of Budhism into China, the charac- 
ter of the Tauists, or Rationalists, has very much changed, 
by the latter sect adopting many of the tenets, and con- 
forming to many of the customs and ceremonies of the 
Budhists. One evidence of this change is found in the 
style of the Tauist literature of later years compared 
with that of early times ; the latter being more in the 
Budhist manner. We give below, first a specimen of the 

primitive Tauist writings. It is from a work called 


THE BOOK OF CONSTANT PURITY.* 


“ Lau-kiiin said, Reason (tau) is without form : it pro- 





* We quote from Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal 
Asiatic Society, Part V, 1855. 


234 SELECTIONS. 


duced heaven and earth. Reason is without passion : it 
caused the sun and moon to revolve. Reason is without 
a name : it supports the life of all things. I do not know 
its name. For want of a better, I call it Reason. 

“Tn this (law of the universe, this germ of all being, 
here called) Reason, purity and impurity, motion and 
rest, are all embraced. Heaven is pure, earth is impure. 
Heaven moves, earth rests. The male is pure, the female 
impure. To the male belongs motion, to the female rest. 
Causes are made to operate, consequences flow from 
them, and all things are produced. The pure gives ori- 
gin to the impure, and motion is the foundation of rest. 
If man be able to adhere constantly to purity and rest, 
heaven and earth will be altogether compliant to his 
wishes. 

“ Man’s soul (shin) loves purity, but his heart (sin) 
disturbs it. Man’s heart loves rest, but his passions 
lead it abroad. 

“If the passions can be permanently expelled, then 
the heart will of itself be at rest. If the heart be pure, 
the soul will of itself become pure. ‘The six passions 
will spontaneously cease their activity, and the three pas- 
sions of the mind will spontaneously be destroyed. 

“ Tf they are not so, the reason is, that the heart is not 
yet purified, nor the passions expelled. He who can ex- 
pel his passions, looks inward to his heart, and then his 
heart ceases to be a heart. He also looks outward at 
form, and form then ceases to be. Farther still, he looks 
at things, and those things become nothing. These three 
things once known, (viz., that the heart, form, and out- 
ward things are nothing) he exercises his perceptions 
solely in vacancy. When he thus sees emptiness to be 


THE RATIONALISTS. 285 


emptiness, then this emptiness ceases to be. When it 
ceases to be, then this assertion of its non-existence be- 
comes unreal, and then perpetual rest is attained. When 
rest ceases to be regarded as rest, how can the passions 
again become active? When the passions have ceased 
to be active, that is true rest. Man has then found his 
place, and his nature reached its perfection. 

“ Having attained this purity and rest, man gradually 
enters the region of true reason. He may be regarded 
as knowing and feeling the first principles of religion. 
Yet it is not right to say that anything is known or felt. 
All that is meant is, that he who can renovate and save 
other beings, may be regarded as knowing the principles 
of religion. He who perceives the true nature of things 
is a fit person to diffuse the knowledge of the holy doc- 
trines. 

“ Ko-ung, the Sage, who had attained immortality, said, 
‘When I attained the perception of truth, I had already 
recited this book ten thousand times over. This book 
teaches what gods and men should learn. It was not de- 
livered down through the hands of uninstructed scholars. 
I formerly received it from Tung-hwa-ti-kiiin.* It was 
given to him by Kin-k’iteh-ti-kiiin, and to him again by 
Si-wang-mu. From her it was delivered down by oral 
tradition. I now first commit it to writing. Scholars of 
the first rank, if they understand it, will be raised to be- 
come heavenly rulers. Those of the second rank, if they 
attend to its instructions, will be placed among the im- 
mortal sages of the southern palace. Those of the low- 
est class, if they obtain this book, will enjoy long life on 





* A follower of the sect of Tau, in the early Han dynasty, of the 
Wang family, was called Tung-hwa-ti-kiiin. 


286 SELECTIONS. 


earth, roam at will through the three worlds, and enter 
the golden gate.” 

In the preceding piece, there are several indications 
of Budhist influence, which tend to nullify its claims to 
antiquity. While part of the phraseology is taken from 
the ‘Tau-teh-king, the more metaphysical portion—where 
the existence of the mind, of form, of all things, of va- 
cancy itself, is denied—is clearly Budhist. So also “the 
ocean of misery,” “the floating on the rough sea of life 
and death,” and the term “gods and men,” (for devas 
and men) are manifestly Budhist. While these circum- 
stances oblige us to place the date of this production 
later than it professes, it is still in other parts framed 
on the early Tauist model, and is a good exemplification 
of the style of thinking then prevalent among the pro- 
fessors of that school. 


In contrast with this, a short treatise, altogether in the 
Budhist manner, will now be translated to illustrate the 
later Tauist literature. It is called 


THE WONDERFUL BOOK ON THE REMOVAL OF CALAMITIES 
AND PRESERVATION OF LIFE. 


After a preface of several verses, resembling the Kih 
or Gatha of Budhist books, it begins : 

“ At that time, Yuen-shi-t’ian-tsun (the first person in 
the San-tsing, or Tauist trinity) was in the five palaces 
in the grove of the seven precious stones, attended by 
innumerable sages, all radiating boundless light, which 
shone on boundless worlds. ‘They were looking down 
on numberless human beings, suffering numberless evils, 
passing hither and thither in the world, enthralled by 


THE RATIONALISTS. 287 


the metempsychosis in the successive births and deaths, 
tossed on the waves of the river of desire, driven about 
in the sea of passion, and immersed in the tide of mate- 
rial sensations.” “From beginning to end they are in 
darkness, unable to understand, and hopelessly deceived. 

“The honored one of heaven then addressed them: 
Ye living beings, having your being from what is not be- 
ing, having your nothingness from what is not nothing, 
know ye that what zs does not really exist, and what is 
not is not really non-existent. He who knows that emp- 
tiness is not emptiness, and that form is not form, has 
gained wisdom. He can then enter the various paths of 
knowledge. His mind will grow enlightened. He will 
be freed from doubts. He will not rest on the deceiving 
sensations of the corporeal frame. He will escape from 
all pernicious notions, and hindrances to virtue. I there- 
fore address to you the instructions of this excellent book, 
which, to save mankind, is given them for constant re- 
citation. ‘Then there will be flying Devas, and spirit 
kings, the unconquerable (Az-ang-wang—the four kings 
of Devas) destroyers of evil, wonderful boys who protect 
religion, and sages who save from suffering: each of them 
will be attended by myriads of followers, who will guard 
this book. Wherever it is honored, evils will be avoided, 
and multitudes saved.” 

This piece, which, on account of the poverty and tau- 
tology of its conceptions, is given here in an abridged 
form, is almost entirely borrowed from the sister religion. 
T’ian tsun, honored one of heaven, is copied from the 
title of Budha Sz ¢sun, honored one of the world. The 
scene of audience resembles one of the Hindoo heavens. 
The assembled disciples radiate light to an interminable 


~ 


288 SELECTIONS. 


distance, just in the manner of the Budhist books. The 
metempsychosis, the essential misery of existence, the 
deceptions of sense, and the doctrine of universal empti- 
ness, clearly indicate the source from which the writer 
has drawn his ideas. ‘The salvation of crowds of living 
beings, as the result of writing and reciting this book, 
the mention of the Devas and the Diamond King, (kiu 
kang wang) are other illustrations of the same fact. 

The invocations to the three persons in the Tauist 
trinity, commonly used in the Tauist daily service, con- 
tain several Budhist expressions. That to the third, 
Lau-kiiin, reads in the following manner: “’Thou who 
everywhere spreadest thy teaching, through successive 
kalpas saving mankind ; instructor under various assumed 
titles of emperors and kings, establisher of the doctrine 
of heaven, of earth, and of man ; keeping secret what is 
profound, and revealing what is simple ; on whom attend 
twelve hundred ministers and chiefs ; who embracest in 
thy grasp myriads of folds of Fan-ki (Brahman vapor) ; 
reformer of times, ancient and modern ; writer of the 
‘book on Reason and Virtue’ in five thousand words ; 
who holdest light and darkness in thy hands, who com- 
mandest the darkness, and presidest over the mystic 
numbers nine and five: most merciful, most wise, T’ai- 
shang-lau-kiiin, Tau-teh-t’ian-tsun.” 

In this extract, the words kalpa, (a long period of years ) 
and Fan, (Brahma) are both Sanscrit. The notion that 
Lau-kiiin assumes various names, and appeared in the 
world at certain times from the earliest mythological pe- 
riod and downwards to the time in which he really lived, 
must have originated after the doctrine of metempsycho- 
sis was brought to China. | 


TABLET LITERATURE. 289 


TABLET LITERATURE. 


/ascriptions on stone tablets are numerous in China, 
avd many of these tablets are very ancient. Foreign 
students in the language become much interested in the 
study of them. These inscriptions, set up by the road- 
side, in the temples, and other places of public resort, 
must exert a powerful influence upon the people. 

The specimen which we give, and for which we are in- 
debted to the “Transactions of the China Branch of 
Royal Asiatic Society,” Part V, 1855, page 66, was copied 
from a stone tablet in Shanghae, and is also found on a 
tablet in a Confucian temple in Sing-keang, written both 


in Chinese and Mongul. 


“ The sacred will of the emperor by the decree of High 
Heaven is hereby made known to the various authorities, 
government officers, officials, and others in the metropo- 
lis and provinces : 

“ The doctrine of Confucius having been given down 
as a standard for all ages, ought to be honored by the 
ruling families of the State. In accordance with the sa- 


HOLS 


290 SELECTIONS. 


cred will of the emperor She-tsoo,* regarding the sacred 
temples, seminaries, and colleges at Keuh-fow Lin-meaou,f 
the upper metropolis,t the great metropolis, § and all the 
provincial, prefectural, and chief and secondary district 
cities, let the officers, commissioners, and gentry be 
strictly prohibited making appropriations of the edifice, 
either permitting assemblages for inquiring into judicial 
causes, holding wine entertainments, setting on foot pub- 
lic works, or depositing therein any government chattels. 
The produce of the land pertaining to the seminaries, 
and the benefices of the graduates, must not be appro- 
priated to private use ; but let the grain raised thereon 
be applied to furnish the sacrifices on the two Z7mg'| days, 
at spring and autumn respectively, and at the times of 
new and full moon ; as also for the maintenance of the 
teachers and graduates, the distribution of rations among 
the destitute, the aged, and the infirm ; and graciously 





* Kubla Khan. This edict was issued by Timor, the grandson 
and successor of Kubla Khan, in the year 1294, and was published 
throughout the empire. 

+ The burial-place of Confucius, 

i Peking. 

§ The present Ching-tih heen. 

|| The days on which Confucius is sacrificed to, being the first days 
which occur inthe 2d and 8th months, with the character 77 - ir 
the cycle of sixty. In the great cycle of sixty years, each year has its 
peculiar designation. In the cycle we find six years marked with 
Ting: theqth, 14th, 24th, 34th, 44th, 54th, and called Ting Mau, 
Ting Chau, Ting hoi, Ting yau, Ting Mae, and Ting Chi. Each 
ten years has a Ting year; each twelve months has a Ting month; 
each ten days has a Ting day; each day with its twelve divisions 
(one division equal to two hours) has one Ting division. Ting has 
reference to fire, one of the ive Elements. 


TABLET LITERATURE. 20f 


- 


providing allotments of grain for those who are generally 
honored and respected. When the buildings of the tem- 
ples are dilapidated, let them be repaired. Let students 
be brought forward and maintained ; being placed under 
a rigid course of instruction, and well disciplined in the 
principles of sound doctrines. When any become dis- 
tinguished by their virtuous conduct or literary attain- 
ments, let them be introduced to the notice of the pro- 
vincial judge ; and if there be a satisfactory response 
given to the inquiries put by that functionary, they may 
then become eligible to be employed in the literary offi- 
ces under the governors of their respective provinces. 
Let the judges promulgate their instruction and render it 
illustrious, while they stimulate the candidates to dili- 
gence in their exertions. Let no one place obstacles in 
the way of the public business connected with the tem- 
ples and seminaries. Let the business of the scholars 
be transacted in accordance with these several injunc- 
tions, so that the aforesaid sacred intentions may be car- 
ried into action. Should any one, under other pretense, 
and in defiance of principle, render himself culpable, the 
laws of the State are in force. Who will dare to incur 
the penalty? Let this edict be attended to. 


“ Che-yuen, 31st year, 7th month, 





day.” 


292 SELECTIONS. 


DIRECTORY FOR THE WHOLE LIFE.* 


In that part of the Book of Rites which relates to the 
inner apartments, or nursery, are the following precepts : 
“ All those who have children born to them, ought to se- 
lect from among their concubines those who are fit for 
nurses, seeking for such as are mild, indulgent, affection- 
ate, benevolent, cheerful, kind, dignified, respectful, and 
reserved and careful in their conversation, and make 
them governesses over their children. When children 





* These are selections from the Book oF RiTEs. ‘ This work,” 
says Williams, “has had the most practical effect upon Chinese 
manners and life. Itis the largest of the Chinese Classics. It 
gives directions for all the actions of life. The regulations pre- 
scribed do not refer only to external conduct, but are interspersed 
with truly excellent observations regarding mutual forbearance and 
kindness in society, which is regarded as the true principle of eti- 
quette. The Board of Rites at Pekin is established for the purpose 
of carrying out the instructions of this work ; in it also are found 
the models for the six Boards, viz: The Board of Civil Office, 
Board of Revenue, of Rites, of Music, of War, and Board of Pun- 
ishments. The religion of the State is also founded upon the Book 
of Rites, and children are early instructed and drilled in all the de- 
tails which it contains, respecting their conduct towards parents 
and superiors. 

Our selections are from the Chinese Repository, Vol. V. 


DIRECTORY FOR THE WHOLE LIFE. 293 


are able to sake their food, they should be taught to use 
the right hand. When able to talk, the lads must be in- 
structed to answer in a quick, bold tone ; and the girls, 
in a slow and gentle tone ; a leathern girdle should be 
given to the lads, and a silken one to the girls. At the 
age of seven years, they should be taught to count and 
to name the cardinal points. At the age of seven, boys 
and girls must not sit on the same mat, nor eat at the 
same table. At eight, when going out and coming in, 
and when eating and drinking, they must wait for their 
superiors—being taught to prefer others to themselves. 
At nine, they must learn to number the days of the month. 
At ten, they (the lads only) must be sent abroad to pri- 
vate tutors, and there remain day and night; studying 
the arts of writing and of arithmetic; wearing plain 

apparel ; always learning to demean themselves in a> 
manner becoming their age ; and both in receiving in- 
struction and in practice acting with sincerity of purpose. 
At thirteen, they must attend to music and poetry, mark- 
ing the time as they rehearse the odes of Woo Wang. 
When they have advanced to the age of fifteen, they must 
continue, as formerly, the recitation of poetry, using those 
odes which celebrate the praises of Win Wang ; and at 
the same time, attend to the practice of archery and the 
management of the chariot. At the age of twenty, they 
are in due form to be admitted to the rank of manhood, 
and to learn additional rules of propriety: they may now 
wear garments made of furs and silk ; must rehearse the 
odes in praise of Yu; must be faithful in the perform- 
ance of filial and paternal duties ; and though they pos- 
sess extensive knowledge, they must not affect to teach 
others ; but must remain at home and not spend their 


204 SELECTIONS. 


time abroad. At thirty, they may marry, and commence 
the management of business, and while they will now 
have but a few opportunities for extending their knowl- 
edge, they should respect the wishes of their friends, and 
strive to accommodate them. At forty, they may enter 
into the service of the State, where they will have to bring ~ 
their knowledge into frequent use; and if the prince 
maintains the reign of reason, they must serve him ; but 
‘otherwise not. At fifty, they may be promoted to the 
rank of chief minister of State, and engage in the man- 
agement of the general government. And at seventy, 
they may resign and retire from public duties. 

“Girls, after they are ten years of age, must not leave 
their apartments. Placed under governesses they must 
be taught to be mild both in language and deportment ; 
they must learn to spin, wind off thread, and to weave 
cloth and silken stuffs ; and thus perform those duties 
which properly belong to women in providing clothes for 
their families. ‘They may see to the preparations for the 
sacrifices ; and arrange the vessels and the offerings of 
wine, and vegetables, and thus aid in the sacrificial rites. 
At the age of fifteen, they are in due form to be admitted 
to the rank of womanhood. And at twenty, they may be 
married, unless by death of parent they have been called 
to mourning, in which case marriage must be deferred 
three years. When they are received with the prescribed 
ceremonies, they then become wives ; but otherwise, they 
are regarded as concubines.” 

The Book of Rites contains this precept: “ Let child- 
ren always be taught to speak the simple truth ; to stand 
upright, and in their proper places ; and to listen with 
respectful attention.” 


DIRECTORY FOR THE WHOLE LIFF. 205 


While their father and mother are living, children must 
not presume to do as they please; nor dare to regard 
any property as their own: thus showing the people the 
difference between superiors and inferiors. So long as 
their father and mother are alive, things to the value of 
“a carriage or a horse must not be given away to their 
friends, or be presented to their superiors by the child- 
ren: in this way the people are taught that they must 
not presume to do as they please. 

When the father calls, his son must answer promptly 
and without delay; he must drop whatever work he has 
in hand; or if he is eating and has food in his mouth, 
he must spit it out and run quickly. If the son, who has 
aged parents, goes away from the house, it must not be 
now to this place and then to that; nor must he delay 
his return beyond the proper time; nor retain an un- 
disturbed countenance, when his parents are afflicted 
with sickness. 

In the Book of Rites it is said, “ Duty to parents re- 
quires that they be remonstrated with in secret, but not 
opposed; always and everywhere attended on, and assid- 
uously served even unto death, and then deeply mourned 
for during three years. Duty to a prince requires that he 
be opposed, and not remonstrated with in secret; always 
in the proper place attended on, and assiduously served 
even unto death, and then mourned for during three 
years. Duty to a teacher requires that he be admon- 
ished neither with open remonstrance nor in secret; al- 
_ ways and everywhere attended on, and assiduously served 
even unto death, and then mourned for in heart during 
three years.” 

In the records of learning (a section of the Book of 


296 _ SELECTIONS. 


Rites) it is stated that, “ For the purposes of education, 
among the ancients, villages had their schools ; districts 
their academies ; departments their colleges ; and the 
provinces (or principalities) their universities.” 

According to the Book of Rites, the literary chancellor 
provides the inhabitants of the village with the means of 
education in three distinct departments ; and in order to 
give instruction to all the people, those who are the most 
worthy are honored and promoted. ‘The first depart- 
ment includes the six virtues, wisdom, benevolence, pru- 
dence, justice, faithfulness, and gentleness ; the second 
embraces the six actions, filial obedience, fraternal kind- 
- ness, kindred attachment, relative affection, true friend- 
ship, and tender compassion ; the third comprehends the 
six arts, viz: the ceremonies, music, archery, directing 
the chariot, writing, and arithmetic. In like manner, by 
villages, he regulates all the people by enforcing the eight 
kinds of punishment ; the first, for disobedience to pa- 
rents; second, for abandoning kindred ; third, for hatred 
of relatives ; fourth, for the want of fraternal affection ; 
fifth, for breach of friendship ; sixth, for not exercising 
compassion ; seventh, for tale-bearing ; and eighth, for 
exciting rebellion. 

The royal statutes, contained in the Book of Rites, re- 
quire the directors of learning to promote the four fine 
arts, namely, poetry, history, ceremonies, and music ; and 
to establish four terms in which they shall be respectively 
taught: therein following the example of the ancient 
kings for training up literary men. Ceremonies and mu- 
sic should be taught during spring and autumn; and poe- 
try and history in the summer and winter. 


DIRECTORY FOR THE WHOLE LIFE. 297 


Commence in poetry. Be established in ceremonies. 
Become complete in music. 

Ceremonies and music can never for a moment be laid 
aside. 


298 SELECTIONS. 


RULES OF ETIQUETTE* 


In the Domestic Rules it is said, “ Men in serving their 
parents, at the first cock-crowing must all wash their 
hands ; rinse their mouth ; comb their hair ; bind it to- 
gether with a net ; fasten it with a bodkin ; forming it 
into a tuft; brush off the dust; put on the hat, tying the 
strings, ornamented with tassels ; also the waistcoat, frock 
and girdle, with the note-sticks placed in it, and the in- 
dispensables attached on the right and left ; bind on the 
greaves ; and put on the shoes, tying up the strings. 
Wives must serve their husband’s fathef and mother as 
their own ; at the first cock-crowing they must wash their 
hands ; rinse their mouth ; comb their hair ; bind it to- 





* [From the Siau Hok, or Juvenile Instructor.] 

There are many treatises for the guidance of teachers and pa- 
rents in the nurture of children and youth. The principal of these 
is the Siau Hok, which has exerted a powerful influence in forming 
and stereotyping the character of this most wonderful people. In 
perusing the selections which we give, the reader will perceive the 
source from which the Chinese derive their notions of order and 
industry, and will understand how it comes about that the Chinese 
lads employed amongst us as servants so soon make themselves 
useful in the house; being generally neat, orderly, respectful, and 
industrious. 

We quote from the Chinese Repository, Vol. V. 


RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 299 


gether with a net ; fasten it with a bodkin, forming it into 
a tuft ; put on their frocks and girdles, with the indis- 
pensables attached on the right and left ; fasten on their 
bags of perfumery ; put on and tie up their shoes. Then 
go to the chamber of their father and mother, and father- 
in-law and mother-in-law, and having entered, in a low 
and placid tone they must inquire whether their dress is too 
warm or too cool ; if the parents have pain or itching, 
themselves must respectfully press or rub (the part affect- 
ed); and if they enter or leave the room, themselves either 
going before or following, must respectfully support them. 
In bringing the apparatus for washing, the younger must 
present the bowl ; the elder the water, begging them to 
pour it out and wash ; and after they have washed, hand 
to them the towel. In asking and respectfully present- 
ing what they wish to eat, they must cheer them by their 
mild manner ; and must wait till their father and mother, 
and father-in-law and mother-in-law, have eaten, and then 
retire. Boys and girls, who have not arrived at the age 
of manhood and womanhood, at the first cock-crowing 
must wash their hands ; rinse their mouth ; comb their 
hair ; bind it together with a net, and form it into a tuft ; 
brush off the dust ; tie on their bags, having them well 
supplied with perfumery: then hasten at early dawn to 
see their parents, and inquire if they have eaten and 
drunk ; if they have, they must immediately retire ; but 
if not, they must assist their superiors in seeing that 
everything is duly made ready. 

“ All the domestics, both male and female, at the first 
cock-crowing, must wash their hands ; rinse their mouth ; 
and dress ; collect the pillows and mats ; sprinkle with 
water, and sweep the inner and outer apartments, and 


300 ge SELECTIONS. 


the outer court ; and arrange the seats : each and all at- 
tending to their appropriate duties. 

“When their father and mother, or father-in-law and 
mother-in-law, wish to sit down, the children must: re- 
spectfully offer them a seat, and inquire which way it 
shall face ; when they wish to sleep, the elder children 
must bring them a couch, and ask in what direction they 
shall place it. (When the parents arise, after sleeping) 
the younger must offer them an easy chair to sit upon ; and 
the domestics, after bringing them a couch on which they 
may recline, must gather up the bed and mat ; hang up 
the clothes ; put up the pillows in a bamboo case ; and 
rolling up the mat, put it into a cloth bag. But the 
clothes, mats, beds, pillows, and couch of the father and 
mother, and father-in-law and mother-in-law, must not be 
removed from their proper place. The parents’ staff and 
shoes must be treated with respect, and not rudely han- 
dled ; their vessels for rice, water, and wine, unless emp- 
tied, must not be used (by the children); nor ever may 
they presume to eat or to drink, except of that which is 
left by their parents.” 

The Book of Odes says, “ Dutiful children, who pos- 
sess strong natural affection, will have a mild temper ; 
and possessing a mild temper, their countenance will be 
pleasant ; and possessing a pleasant countenance, their 
“manners will be complaisant. The dutiful child will be 
most careful and most attentive, like a person holding a 
gem or bearing a full vessel, who is afraid of dropping 
the one or oversetting the other. A lofty demeanor and 
stern gravity are not required in serving parents.” 

In the Illustrations of Duties are the following max- 
ims: “It is the duty of every son, in winter to warm, and 


RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 3c1 


in summer to cool (his parents’ bed) ; in the evening to 
wish them rest, and in the morning to inquire after their 
health ; when going out, to announce it to his parents ; 
and on returning, to go into their presence ; his walks 
abroad must always be through the same places ; he must 
have some settled occupation. 

“ Children must not occupy the principal place in the 
house.; nor seat themselves on the middle seat; nor 
walk in the middle of the way ; nor stand in the middle 
of the door. In providing entertainments, they must not 
limit the amount of food ; nor at the sacrifices, go among 
the images. If their parents are silent, they must listea 
to them ; and watch them, even when they do not move. 
They must not ascend high places ; nor approach steep 
precipices ; nor may they indulge in slander or ridicule. 

“ While their father and mother are alive, children 
must not pledge themselves to their friends so as to put 
their own lives in jeopardy.” 

Shun, when giving orders to Seé, remarked, “ Unless 
the people are kind to each other, the five relative duties 
will not be performed: go, therefore, as my commis- 
sioner, and respectfully inculcate the duties of the five 
relations, treating the people with kindness.” Address- 
ing Kwei, another of his ministers, he said, “ Go in the 
office of chief musician, and teach the elder sons that 
they must be rigid, yet gentle ; lenient, yet firm ; rigor- 
ous, but not cruel ; reserved, but not haughty. The feel- 
ings of the heart are expressed by words in poetry; words 
are arranged by numbers in verse ; numbers are regu- 
lated by intervals into tones ; and the tones are reduced 
to harmony by a scale of notes with which the sounds of 
the eight kinds of musical instruments are brought in 


322 SELECTIONS, 


unison, without the slightest jar or discord. With such 
music both gods and men are delighted.” 

In the Students’ Manual (written by Kwanchung) it is 
said: “ While the tutor gives instruction, the pupil must 
learn ; and with gentleness, deference, and self-abase- 
ment, receive implicitly every word his master utters. 
When he sees virtuous people he must follow them. 
When he hears good maxims he must conform to them. 
In a gentle and submissive manner, he must perform the 
duties which he owes to his parents and brothers ; and 
must never behave proudly, presuming on his own abili- 
ties. He must cherish no wicked designs ; but always 
act uprightly. Whether at home or abroad, he must 
have a fixed residence, and associate with the benevo- 
lent. He must carefully regulate his personal deport- 
meut, and control the feelings of his heart. He must 
both when rising and at rest, keep his clothes in order. 
Every morning he must learn something new, and re- 
hearse the same every evening, doing all with the most 
respectful and watchful attention.” This is the way to 
become a student. 

Confucius said, “ Let your children, while at home, 
perform the duties which they owe to their parents ; 
and when abroad, practice those which are due to broth- 
ers ; be constant and faithful, loving all men, but associ- 
ating only with the virtuous ; and if they have any leisure, 
after they have performed their duties, let them spend it 
in the pursuit of literary objects.” 

“When the father or teacher of a child calls him, he 
must answer and rise without delay.” 3 

“ The mother-in-law, at the death of her father-in-law, 
retires from her place at the head of the family ; but in 


RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 393 


all matters regarding sacrifices and the entertainment of 
guests, the wife of the first-born son [who succeeds to 
the station vacated by the mother-in-law] must request 
her pleasure ; and the inferior wives must ask the pleas- 
ure of the principal one.” 

“ All the sons of the family must respectfully serve the 
chief of the clan and his wife ; though honored and rich, 
they must not on that account presume on entering his 
dwelling to behave proudly towards his family; and 
although they have a great number of chariots and at- 
tendants, they must dispense with these when they go to 
_ his house. Nor may they, presuming on the superior 
rank and riches, exalt themselves above any of the other 
members of the family.” 

“ When his parents are in error, the son, with a humble 
spirit, pleasing countenance, and gentle tone, must point 
it out to them. If they do not receive his reproof, he 
must strive more and more to be dutiful and respectful 
towards them till they are pleased, and then he must 
again point out their error.” 

“If ason, in performing his duty to his parents, has 
thrice endeavored to correct them, without their listen- 
ing to him, then weeping and lamenting he must still 
follow them.” 

In the Domestic Rules it is said, “ Although your fa- 
ther and mother are dead, if you propose to yourself any 
good work, only reflect how it will make their names 
illustrious, and your purpose will be fixed. So if you pro- 
pose to do what is not good, only consider how it will 
disgrace the names of your father and mother, and you 
will desist from your purpose.” 

“ Those who walk slowly after their seniors are dutiful 


304 SELECTIONS. 


brothers ; those who walk hastily before their seniors, 
are undutiful brothers.” 

“Tf any one is twenty years older than yourself, treat 
him as you do your father; if one is ten years older, 
treat him as your elder brother ; if only five years older, 
follow him close to his shoulder.” 

“Following your teacher, you must not pass by him 
and speak to other people ; meeting him on the road, 
quickly advance and stand erect with folded hands. An- 
swer when he speaks to you ; but if he does not speak, 
then quickly retire. When following a superior, if he 
ascend a hill or mound, you must turn your face to the 
place towards which he looks.” 

“Tf, while sitting with your teacher, he question you, 
wait until he has finished his interrogations, then reply. 
Rise when you wish to inquire respecting your studies, 
and also when you wish to ask for explanations.” 

“Tf while sitting with a good man, he vary the subject 
of conversation, then rise up and answer.” 

“Tf while sitting with a good man, any one come in, 
saying, ‘I wish, when you have a little leisure, to speak 
to you,’ all who are on the right and left must retire and 
wait.” 

“Tf wine is brought in when you are seated with a su- 
perior, you must rise, and bowing go up to receive it. If 
the superior bid you stop, then you may sit down and 
drink. But the juniors must not presume to drink until 
their superiors have emptied their cups.” 

“When presents are made by a superior, the inferior 
must not presume to refuse them.” 

“When feasting in company with a superior, though 
there be a superabundance of food, the junior must not 


RULES OF ETIQUETTE. 305 


refuse it; nor may he decline to sit down on equality 
with his superior.” 

“ When sitting with a superior, to answer without look- 
ing towards him is a breach of decorum.” 

“ Good men make literature the bond of their friend- 
ship ; and by friendly union they strengthen their be- 
nevolence.” 

“Friends must sharply and frankly admonish each 
other ; and brothers must be gentle towards one another.” 

“Tt is the duty of friends to admonish each other to 
do good.” 

“So long as a host does not ask any questions, the 
guests must not commence the conversation.” 

In the Sacrificial Institutes it is prescribed, “The hus- 
band and wife must both go in person to oversee the 
sacrifices, that everything, alike in the male and female 
departments of the household, may be duly prepared.” 

“The good man, when the time for offering sacrifices 
arrives, will go himself and superintend them ; and if 
prevented from so doing, he will send a suitable person 
to act in his stead.” 

“ The good man, though poor, will never sell the im- 
plements of sacrifice ; though cold, he will not put on 
his sacrificial robes ; and if building a house, he will not 
cut down the trees which grow over the graves of his an- 
cestors.” 


“Your body,” exclaimed the philosopher Tsing, “ is 
the legacy of your father and mother ; how then can you 
presume to demean yourself in an unbecoming manner ! 
To behave unmannerly in the ordinary pursuits of life, is 
a breach of filial duty ; want of faithfulness in serving 
the prince, is undutiful ; unmagisterial conduct in an 


~ 306 _ SSLEUCTIONS. 


officer of government, is undutiful; unfaithfulness to- 
wards friends, is undutiful ; and a want of courage in 
‘battle is also an undutiful act. If, therefore, in any one 
of these five particulars there is a failure, calamity will 
surely overtake your parents ; how then can you dare to 
demean yourself in an unbecoming manner?” 

Confucius said, “ Of the three thousand crimes in- 
cluded under the five kinds of punishment, there is none 
greater than disobedience to parents.” 


THE MIRROR OF THE MIND. 3°7 


THE MIRROR OF THE MIND. 


Ming Sum Paou Keén, is the full title of the book, 
(from which we here give a quotation) which means, A 
Precious Mirror to reflect Light on the Mind. When it 
was first published does not appear. The edition from 
which this was taken was published in the 58th year of 
Keenlung (1793). It consists wholly of quotations from 
the most approved Chinese writers, both ancient and 
modern. These quotations are from upwards of seventy 
different authors—moralists and philosophers, and wri- 
ters of the three religious sects—who lived in all the 
intervening ages from Yau down to about the middle of 
the last century, embracing a period of little less than 
four thousand years. 

The book is a small octavo of fifty-four pages, and is 
divided into twenty sections, on as many different sub- 
jects, but all designed to inculcate good morals, and 
good manners. ‘The sentences given below are simply 
specimens from each of the twenty sections. The work 
is wholly of a didactic kind. It is a compound of poetic 
and prosaic compositions ; consisting of anecdotes, apho- 
risms, and history. The style is often figurative, and par- 


308 SELECTIONS. 


takes of that variety which would be expected in a book 
made up, as it is, of quotations. 

The translations given below were made by the late 
Dr. Wm. Milne, for the Chinese Repository. 

See Vol. XVI, p. 406. 

1. “Treasure up gold to hand down to posterity, and 
it is not certain that posterity will take due care of it. 
Collect books to hand down to posterity, and it is not 
certain that posterity will be able to read them. It is 
therefore better to lay up in darkness a store of secret 
virtues, as the sure plan of permanent advantage to pos- 
terity.” 

2. “The man, who, by committing bad actions, becomes 
famous, if men do not punish him, Heaven will certainly 
slay him.” ; 

3. “Death and life are here determined—riches and 
honor are from Heaven.” } 
4. “He who acts filially towards his parents, his own 
children will also act filially towards him. If he is him- 
self unfilial, how can he expect his children to be filial ? 
The dutiful and obedient will have dutiful and obedient 
children—the rebellious and obstinate will have rebel- 
lious and obstinate children. If you do not believe, only 
look at the drop from the eaves, how it successively falls, 

and without error.” 

5. “He who does not value himself, will suffer dis- 
grace. He who does not respect himself, invites misery. 
He who is not self-full, receives advantage. He who is 
not self-opinionated, will attain extensive learning.” 

6. “Contentment furnishes constant joy. Much cov: 
etousness, constant grief. To the contented, even poverty 
is joy. ‘To the discontented, even wealth is a vexation. 


THE MIRROR OF THE MIND. 309 


The contented will always have a competence, and be 
their whole lives without disgrace. He who knows where 
to stop, and always stops there, will his whole life be 
without shame. Compared with those of your superiors, . 
your circumstances may not be competent ; compared 
with your inferiors, you possess superfluity.” 

7. “Sit in your secret chamber, as if passing through 
the public street. Take care of the inch-large heart, as 
if driving six horses.” 

_ 8. “Man’s temper is like water. Water overturned, 
cannot be gathered up again. ‘The temper, let loose, 
cannot be again brought under restraint.” 

g. “The living man who does not learn, is dark, dark, 
like one walking in the night.” 

to. “ He who brings up a son, but neglects to instruct 
him, loves him not. He who instructs his son, but with- 
out due strictness, also loves him not.” 

11. “A mirror displays the countenance. Wisdom 
sheds light on the heart. If the mirror be bright, dust 
cannot stain it. If wisdom be clear, that which is evil 
and lascivious will not be produced.” 

12. “He who is without education in youth, will be 
without knowledge in old age.” 

13. “A good prince is generous to his people, with- 
out extravagance ; employs tnem in labor, and they mur- 
mur not. He desires without covetousness ; is dignified 
without pride ; displays majesty without sternness.” 

14. “ Young persons and servants ought not in any 
affair, whether small or great, to act of themselves ; they 
ought always to ask of the elder branches of the family.” 

15. “ Brothers are like hands and feet. A wife is like 
one’s clothes. When clothes are worn out, we can sub- 


3190 SELECTIONS. 


stitute those that are new. When hands and feet are cut 
off, it is difficult to obtain substitutes for them.” 

16. “The benevolent man loves others. The polite 
man respects others. He who loves others, others will 
always love him. He who respects others, others will 
always respect him.” 

17. “ He who is ready with promises, will rarely ful- 
fill them. He who flatters one in his presence, will com- 
monly be found to speak evil of him behind his back.” 

18. “The mouth is the door of human misery ; and 
the tongue, the axe which exterminates the body.” 

19. “To hold intercourse with a good man, resembles 
the scent of the /aénhwui flower. One man plants it, 
and all inhale the fragrance. ‘To associate with a bad 
man, is like one climbing a wall with an infant in his 
arms. If he slip his foot, both fall and suffer.” 

20. “There are four things in women which deserve 
praise: a woman’s virtue, her countenance, her words, 
her labors. A woman’s virtue requires no extraordi- 
nary talent above that possessed by others. Her coun- 
tenance requires not the exquisite charms of superlative 
beauty. Her words require not fluent lips or the talent 
of discussion. Her labors require not a higher degree 
of skill and dexterity, than that commonly possessed by 
others. Let her be chaste, innocent, sober, and econom- 
ical; mind her duty; be neat; in walking and resting, 
preserve modesty ; in her actions, observe a rule: these 
constitute female virtue. Let her wash and dust well ; 
keep her clothes neat and clean; bathe at proper times ; 
and preserve her person from filth: these constitute fe- 
male beauty. Let her choose her words ; avoid unbe- 
coming conversation ; speak at proper times ; thus she 


THE MIRROR OF THE MIND. Bit 


will not displease others: these constitute female con- 
versation. Let her diligently spin, and make cloth ; let 
her not indulge her appetite, in regard to savory food and 
liquors ; let her prepare good things to set before the 
guests: these constitute female labor. These four vom- 
bine the essential virtues and duties of women. They 
are exceedingly easy, and she who practices them isa 
virtuous worm.” 


32 SELECTIONS. 


A PRECOCIOUS YOUTH. 


The examples of intelligent youth rising to the highest 
offices of State are numerous in all the works designed 
for beginners, and stories illustrative of their precocity 
are sometimes given in toybooks and novels. One of the 
most common instances is here quoted from the Eastern 
Garden’s Miscellany, that of Confucius and Hiang Toh, 
which is as well known to every Chinese as the story 
of George Washington barking the cherry-tree with his 
hatchet is to American youth.* 

“The name of Confucius was Yu, and his style Chung- 
ni; he established himself as an instructor in the west- 
ern part of the kingdom of Loo. One day, followed by 
all his disciples, riding in a carriage, he went out to ram- 
ble, and on the road came across several children at their 
sports ; among them was one who did not join in them. 
Confucius, stopping his carriage, asked him, saying, ‘Why 





* Williams’ AZiddle Kingdom. 


The story is quoted by Dr. Williams from the Chinese Redosi- 
tory, Vol. X, p. 614. We may, in passing, be permitted to call at- 
tention to this book—the Middle Kingdom—two closely printed 
volumes of 600 pages each. It is undoubtedly the fullest and most 
reliable work of its kind on China which has yet appeared. 


A PRECOCIOUS YOUTH. 212 


is it that you alone do not piay?’ The lad replied, - Ail 
play is without any profit ; one’s clothes get torn, and 
they are not easily mended ; above me, I disgrace my 
father and mother ; below me, even to the lowest, there 
is fighting and altercation : so much toil and no reward, 
how can it be a good business? It is for these reasons 
that I do not play.’ Then dropping his head, he began 
making a city out of pieces of tile. 

Confucius, reproving him, said, ‘ Why do you not turn 
out for the carriage?’ The boy replied, ‘ From ancient 
times till now it has always been considered proper 
for a carriage to turn out for a city, and not for a city to 
turn out for a carriage.’ Confucius then stopped his ve- 
hicle in order to discourse of reason. He got out of the 
carriage. and asked him, ‘ You are still young in years; 
how is it that you are so quick?’ The boy replied, say- 
ing, ‘A human being, at the age of three years, discrimi- 
nates between his father and his mother ; a hare, three 
days after it is born, runs over the ground and furrows 
of the fields ; fish, three days after their birth, wander in 
rivers and lakes: what heaven thus produces naturally, 
how can it be called brisk?’ 

Confucius added, ‘ In what village and neighborhood 
do you reside, what is your surname and name, and what 
your style?’ The boy answered, ‘I live in a mean vil- 
lage, and in an insignificant land ; my surname is Hiang, 
my name is Toh, and I have yet no style.’ 

Confucius rejoined, ‘I wish to have you come and ram- 
ble with me ; what do you think of it?’ The youth re- 
plied, ‘ A stern father is at home, whom I am bound to: 
serve ; an affectionate mother is there, whom it is my 
duty to cherish ; a worthy elder brother is at home, whom 

14 


314 "SELECTIONS. 


it is proper for me to obey, with a tender younger brother 
whom I must teach ; and an intelligent teacher is there 
from whom I am required to learn. How have I leisure 
to go a-rambling with you?’ 

Confucius said, ‘I have in my carriage thirty-two 
ch¢ss-men ; what do you say to having a game togeth- 
er?’ The lad answered, ‘If the emperor love gaming, 
the empire will not be governed; if the nobles love play, 
the government will be impeded ; if scholars love it, 
learning and investigation will be lost and thrown by ; 
if the lower classes are fond of gambling, they will ut- 
terly lose the support of their families ; if servants and 
slaves love to game, they will get a cudgeling ; if farmers 
love it, they miss the time for ploughing and sowing : for 
these reasons I shall not play with you.’ 

Confucius rejoined, ‘I wish to have you go with me, 
and fully equalize the empire: what do you think of this?’ 
The lad replied, ‘The empire cannot be equalized ; here 
are high hills, there are lakes and rivers ; either there 
are princes and nobles, or there are slaves and servants. 
If the high hills be leveled, the birds and beasts will have 
no resort ; if the rivers and lakes be filled up, the fishes 
and the turtles will have nowhere to go ; do away with 
kings and nobles, and the common people will have much 
dispute about right and wrong ; obliterate slaves and ser- 
vants, and who will there be to serve the prince! If the 
empire be so vast and unsettled, how can it be equal- 
ized ??” 

Confucius again asked, ‘ Can you tell, under the whole 
sky, what fire has no smoke, what water no fish ; what 
hill has no stones, what tree no branches ; what man has 
no wife, what woman no husband ; what cow has no calf, 


A PRECCCIOUS YOUTH. 315 


what mare no colt ; what cock has no hen, what hen no 
cock ; what constitutes an excellent man, and what an 
inferior man ; what is that which has not enough, and 
what that which has an overplus ; what city is without a 
market, and who is the man without a style?’ 

The boy replied, “ A glowworm’s fire has no smoke, 
and well-water no fish ; a mound of earth has no stones, 
and a rotten tree no branches ; genii have no wives, and 
fairies no husbands ; earthen cows have no calves, nor 
wooden mares any colts ; lonely cocks have no hens, 
and widowed hens no cocks ; he who is worthy is an ex- 
cellent man, and a fool is an inferior man; a winter’s 
day is not long enough, and a summer’s day is too long; 
the imperial city has no market, and little folks have no 
style.’ 

Confucius inquiring said, ‘Do you know what are the 
connecting bonds between heaven and earth, and what is 
the beginning and ending of the dual powers? What is 
left, and what is right ; what is out, and what is in ; who 
is father, and who is mother ; who is husband, and who 
is wife? [Do you know] where the vind comes from, and 
from whence the rain? From whence the clouds issue, 
and the dew arises? And for how many tens of thous- 
ands of miles the sky and earth go parallel ?’ 

The youth answering said, ‘ Nine multiplied nine times 
makes eighty-one, which is the controlling bond of heaven 
and earth ; eight multiplied into nine makes seventy-two, 
the beginning and end of the dual powers. Heaven is 
father, and earth is mother ; the sun is husband, and the 
moon is wife ; east is left, and west is right ; without is 
_ out, and inside is in; the winds come from Tsang-wu, 
and the rains proceed from wastes and wilds ; the clouds 


316 SELECTIONS. 


issue from the hills, and the dew rises from the ground.- 
Sky and earth go parallel for ten thousand times ten. 
thousand miles, and the four points of the compass have 
each their station.’ 

Confucius asking, said, ‘ Which do you say is the near- 
est relation, father and mother, or husband and wife?’ 
_ The boy responded, ‘ Bare parents are near ; husband 
and wife are not [so| near.’ 

Confucius rejoined, ‘While husband and wife are ae 
they sleep under the same coverlet ; when they are dead, 
they lie in the same grave ; how, then, can you say that 
they are not near?’ The boy replied, ‘A man without a 
wife is like a carriage without a wheel ; if there be no 
wheel, another one is made, for he can doubtless get a 
new one; so, if one’s wife die, he seeks again, for he also 
can obtain a new one. The daughter of a worthy family 
must certainly marry an honorable husband ; a house 
having ten rooms always has a plate and a ridgepole; 
three windows and six lattices do not give the light of 
a single door; the whole host of stars with all their 
sparkling brilliancy do not equal the splendor of the sol- 
itary moon: the affection of a father and mother—alas, 
if it be once lost!’ 

Confucius sighing, said, ‘ How clever ! how worthy !’ 
The boy, asking the sage, said, ‘ You have just been giv- 
ing me questions, which I have answered one by one; I 
now wish to seek information ; will the teacher in one 
sentence afford me some plain instruction? I shall be 
much gratified if my request be not rejected.’ He then 
said, ‘Why is it that mallards and ducks are able to 
swim ; how is it that wild geese and cranes sing ; and 
why are firs and pines green through the winter?’ Con- 


A PRECOCIOUS YOUTH. 317 


fucius replied, ‘ Mallards and ducks can swim because 
their feet are broad ; wild geese and cranes can sing be- 
cause they have long necks ; firs and pines remain green 
throughout the winter, because they have strong hearts.’ 
The youth rejoined, ‘ Not so; fishes and turtles can 
swim ; is it because they all have broad feet ? Frogs and 
toads can sing; is it because their necks are long? The 
green bamboo keeps fresh in winter ; is it on account of 
its strong heart ?’* | 

Again interrogating, he said, ‘How many stars are 
there altogether in the sky?’ Confucius replied, ‘ At 
this time inquire about the earth ; how can we converse 
about the sky with certainty?’ The boy said, ‘Then 
how many houses in all are there on the earth?’ The 
sage answered, ‘Come, now, speak about something that’s 
before our eyes ; why must you converse about heaven 
and earth?’ The lad resumed, ‘ Well, speak about 
what’s before our eyes—how many hairs are there in 
your eyebrows ?’ 

Confucius smiled, but did not answer, and turning 
round to his disciples, called them and said, ‘This boy is 
to be feared ; for it is easy to see that the subsequent 
man will not be like the child.’ He then got into his 
carriage and rode off.” 





* The bamboo grows like the grasses, with joints, but hollow, 
without any heart at all. 


2.2 SELECTIONS. 


HARMONY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE.* 


If the relations of MANKIND are not esteemed, MAN 
cannot be rendered perfect (for the discharge of his du- 
ties). Of the ties that bind MANKIND together, having 
disposed of (those of) FATHER and MOTHER, ELDER and 
YOUNGER BROTHERS, we now come to treat of HUSBAND 
and wiFE. In this world the HUSBANDs and wivEs that 
live harmoniously and happy, are very many ; and those 
who are not harmonious and happy, are very few. The 
root and fountain of this want of HARMONY, generally 
proceeds from the HUSBAND not being intelligent and 
upright ; whether it is that he despises his wife on ac- 
count of the poverty of her origin, or dislikes his wife for 
her ugly face, or gets angry with her for her zatura/ being 
foolish and stupid ; seeing then (that for some reason or 
other) she does not come up to your ideas, you get to be 
at variance with her ; so much so, that right or wrong, 





* From the CHUN Ka Po—The Transmitted Family Pearls. 
Translated by the late Robert Thom, Esq., while English Consul 
at Ningpo, China, for a work which he prepared, called the ‘ Chi- 
nese Speaker.” MVingpo, 1846. 

[The words and parts of sentences in parenthesis, are such as 
are needed to give a smooth rendcring in English.] 


HARMONY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE. 319 


you scold her and abuse her, as if she were a household 
slave! But as you (have begun to) treat er thus unhar- 
moniously, sie will most naturally treat you with equal 
want of harmony! Alas! ye know not that great as are 
heaven and earth, they depart not from (the harmony 
that regulates ) the MALE and FEMALE ( principles! ). 
This (harmony, then, of) HUSBAND and WIFE, is the very 
basis of all HUMAN RELATIONS. 

Think for a moment that there are in the world, of 
men and women, I know not how many millions, whose 
having become in this life united as HUSBANDs and WIVES, 
is entirely owing to the same having been determined in 
a previous state of existence. Thus to accomplish the 
calculations of Heaven, is indeed not an easy matter. 

Just reflect then! Your wife has turned her back on 
her own father and mother, to come to do homage to 
your father and mother; she has put away her own 
brothers and sisters, to pay attention to your brothers 
and sisters; she has married into your family to bear 
men-children and to nurse female children; to twist 
and to twine, to stitch and to sew; to cook for the 
family, to look after your brewing and washing ; to ex- 
perience, I know not how many hardships ; and all this 
just to look up to you (as her superior) for life, to de- 
pend upon you for a livelihood, and to hope that your 
two hearts will beat together in harmony, and that your 
household will be beyond imagination peaceful and hap- 
py! If you, her husband, should change, (as regards 
her) your bonds of affection, and on the contrary, 
cherish ( feelings of ) disgust and hatred, just put your 
hand upon your heart, (and ask yourself) is it at ease, 
or not? Ifyou despise ( your wife ) because she is poor 


320 SELECTIONS, 


—I have frequently seen with these very eyes (let me 
tell you) a great many rich people’s women and girls, 
whose dispositions have become habituated to pride and 
haughtiness, who, with reason or without reason, will in- 
sult and abuse their husbands, and not incline to meek- 
ness and submission! these are certainly not so good as 
the girls of poor families, who are willing to suffer on 
your account, both hardships and sufferings! Moreover, 
in this world, riches and honors do not go round in a 
circle unchangeably. As for what pertains to the future, 
how can it be (said to be) fixed and certain? Just now 
do you say that you are rich and noble? Why don’t you 
look at (the case of ) Sunc Hunc?* He was so honora- 
ble that he held the post of a great minister of state ; the 
EMPEROR wished to take the princess of Chaou-yang, 
and bestow her upon him, thus making him his son-in- 
law! but unexpectedly, he uttered that (remarkable) sen- 
tence, “The friendships formed in poverty are not to be 
forgotten! the wife who (formerly) ate husks with you, is 
not to be degraded (from her place in ) the hall!” so that 
(even the Emperor) could not force him (in this matter !) 

By this (example) may be:seen, that even he who was 
so noble as to be prime minister, and who was invited by 
the emperor to become his son-in-law, even he would not 
change (the object of his affections!) how much less then 
should you, who have not yet attained to be prime min- 
ister, nor have yet been asked by the emperor to become 





-* A famous statesman, and good-looking fellow, who flourished 
in the reign of KWANG-Wo0, of the TUNG-HAN dynasty, about the 
commencement of the Christian era, 


HARMONY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE. 321 


his son-in-law?* Why, then, should you despise your 
wife on account of the poverty of her origin? If you 
look upon her face as ugly, I have often seen with these 
eyes of mine (let me tell you) many ugly women and 
girls who have enjoyed a great degree of happiness! this 
it was that gave rise to the saying of our forefathers: 
“Happiness is found by the side of an ugty person!” 
Of the womankind who are fascinating and lovely, too 
many (alas!) are prostitutes, and the vilest of the vile! 
the proverb saith truly, “Of pretty faces, the majority are 
unfortunate!” there is not the slightest mistake in this! 

If you should now say, My wife’s face is not beautiful, 
why not look at (the case of ) Lew Ting-she? + After 
he had engaged himself in marriage, he returned, having 
obtained the degree of doctor of laws, [and found] unex- 
pectedly that his affianced wife had already become blind 
of both eyes ; moreover, her family was poor, and did not 
dare to speak again upon the subject of their nuptials. 

Ting-she, however, chose a (lucky) day, and consummat- 
ed the marriage. When some one advised him to wed 
the younger daughter, (of the same family) he, Ting-she, 
would on no account consent! He said, “As for this 
(poor blind) woman, if I don’t marry her, during her 
whole life she’ll have no one to rely upon! (besides) I 
had already given her my promise! tho’ her eyes be 
blind, yet how can I turn my back upon the first object 
of my affections?” In fine, he married her, and they 
lived to a good old age together ; not only did he not 





* Literally,—attached to his (z. ¢. the emperor’s) horse. 


Tt A famous scholar and upright man of the Sung dynasty, A.D, 
1200. 


44" 


322 SELECTIONS. 


dislike her, but contrariwise they lived harmoniously. Af- 
terwards she bore him two sons, and they both became 
noble! You observe, that even altho’ blind, he was yet 
content to receive her, [in marriage] how much more then 
should you, whose wives have eyes, and are not blind? 

Ye moreover have not yet attained the degree of doctor 
of laws! why then should you dislike your wives for be- 
ing ugly? If you hate them for their stupidity and worth- 
lessness, you must consider that they are womankind ; 
that as they cannot read, and do not know their letters, 
they cannot understand [the principles of] reason! Still 
further, if their dispositions be prejudiced and lazy, they 
indeed cannot act quite correctly ; but you who are their 
husbands, must try by every means to instruct and en- 
lighten them ; ye may not get angry, neither should you 
change [in your affections]. Why not look at the mon- 
keys: even these may be taught to act plays ; dogs may 
even be taught to tread in a stone mortar; rats, when 
taught, can leap in a revolving circle ; and starlings may 
be taught to recite poetry: by this it may be seen that 
even birds and beasts may by instruction understand 
what appertains to MAN; how much more then a HUMAN 
BEING; how can se be taught, and yet not learn? Even 
in one case out of ten thousand, supposing it should so 
happen that instruction is thrown away, this is just what 
your [evil] destiny has drawn upon you; you can only 
esteem [the more] THE RELATIONS OF MANKIND, and rest 
content with what your raTE has awarded you ; you may 
not cherish anger and hatred. I with these eyes have 
frequently seen a great many clever and [apparently] 
steady persons of the fair sex, who [being gifted with] 
great courage and high talent have yet been guilty of a 


HARMONY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE, 323 


number of most ugly actions ; and these are not so good 
as the stupid womankind, who yet know to keep quietly 
in their places. In one word, I beg to admonish you 
who are husbands, whatever you are engaged in, you 
must retire a step, [2 ¢., pause a little] and reflect ; sup- 
posing you had married some rash, cruel, and unworthy 
woman, who by all manner of ways unfeelingly insulted 
and abused you, and feared not that you might not stand 
it; how would you feel then, pray? On no account 
should you again indulge in foolish expectations. 

In this world there are several classes of [bad] men, 
who abandon their wives: these must meet an evil recom- 
pense [for their crimes]. Thus, for example, there are 
those who do not like their own wives, and yet take de- 
light in scheming [to ruin] the womankind of their neigh- 
bors ; there are those who, having already had boys and 

girls born to them, [of their wives] get tired of the per- 
' son that they see every day, and go after new faces, fool- 
ishly thinking to take up with concubines and female 
slaves ; there are those who, from having suddenly ob- 
tained great wealth, or by good fortune got literary de- 
grees, loathe [the wife] they had known amid poverty, 
and try by every art to procure some lovely mistress, for 
dalliance and enjoyment; there are those whose affec- 
tions are madly entangled in [the snares of | prostitutes, 
who give themselves up to houses of song and entertain- 
ment.; there are those who, being merchants, go far-a- 
field and covet some pretty concubine or other, and who 
year after year, and month after month, think not of re- 
turning to their homes ; there are those who love gam- 
bling, and are fond of law-suits, and who care not for 
their wives, whether they be good or bad ; there are those 


234 SELECTIONS. 


who do not look after their proper business, and only 
think how they themselves are to be warm and well fed ; 
the live-long day they stroll at their ease, or idly lounge 
about, or they involve themselves in what does not con- 
‘cern them, and as for their wives suffering hunger and 
cold, they ask not a word about it ; and there are those who 
love their concubines and despise their wives: these sev- 
eral classes of men [I say] have never known the pleas- 
ure of singing in-chorus, each mutually supporting the 
other ; of playing on the harp and psaltery, keeping the 
tune to the music,* thus causing their wives to trim their 
solitary lamp, and to sleep on their lonely pillow; of 
their wretched and forlorn state, to whom shall they tell 
the tale? in the dusk of the evening, as the wind [howls] 
or the rain [falls,] this [painful] feeling [of loneliness] is 
still more difficult to be borne. As for these sorts of de- 
~praved HUSBANDS, I fear that [the full measure of aveng- 
ing] hatred being heaped together, neither demons nor 
gods will be willing to spare you. 

Now as the husband must certainly live harmoniously 
“with his wife, so must the wife still more esteem her hus- 
band. You ought to know that the husband is the wife’s 
HEAVEN! and that to be mild and flexible is the most 
“important duty of WOMANKIND! In every circumstance 
that may happen, you must [meekly] submit to your hus- 
~band’s commands ; you may not rebelliously oppose him. 
-Even should it so happen that your husband is [mani- 
festly| in the wrong, still you must restrain your feelings, 
and bear with patience ; only good-naturedly admonish- 





* These are poetical expressions denoting the HARMONY which 
accompanics, or ought to accompany, MARRIAGE. 


HARMONY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE.) -325 


‘ing him, and [ by behaving so] you will [ show yourself] 
to be A GOOD WoMAN. I have constantly seen the wo- 
men of the present time [cursed with] dispositions harsh 
and violent, haughty and puffed up with self-importance ; 
if anything occur that does not exactly jump with their 
humor, then they commence to speak loudly and to bawl 
-out ; going even to the length of cursing and abusing 
(people); wishing to strike and desiring to be uproarious ! 
(Lhese ladies) either relying upon their mothers’ families 
being wealthy and powerful, or depending upon their 
own faces being beautiful and pretty, or madly desiring 
to be rich, and scorning their husbands because they are 
poor, or clandestinely longing after the illicit pleasure of 
some handsome gallant, being disgusted with the coarse- 
ness and plainness of their partners ; (such ladies I say) 
taking their husbands, and as it suits their pleasure, thus 
insulting and abusing them, have wandered far from the 
path of woman’s duty! 

The women of Yang-Chow,* as they neither rear the 
silk-worm nor weave cloth, (allow) the sun to be shi- 
ning high (in the heavens) while they have not yet got 
out of bed. Out of a single head of hair, they make 
the peony-flower head-dress, and the pyrus-flower head- 
dress, the head-dress “a@ Za two dragons playing with 
the pearl,” the head-dress “a /a two phcenixes thread- 
ing the flowers,” and a great many other names besides.f 
They comb themselves during half the day, they look 
at themselves in the glass, and then take another look ; 





* The author was a native of Yang-Chow. 


+ What would the worthy author say were he to witness the fash- 
ions of the Western world ? } 


326 SELECTIONS. 


till evening comes, and then they drink their wine and 
(indulge in ) idle talk, and sit up for a length of time. 
If their husbands have plenty of money, then they cut 
out (handsome ) clothes, and purchase (showy ) head- 
gear; they know not in the slightest degree to econ- 
omize! if their husbands’ funds be scanty, still they 
must have mellow wine and delicate eating; they feel 
no commiseration (for their extravagance,) they take 
no delight in managing their houses with diligence and 
economy ; they only like to live well and to work la- 
zily ; as regards their household affairs, they go not to 
look after them, they ask not how much or how little rice 
there may be (in the store-room,) they know not whether 
the price of fuel be high or low ; with their whole hearts 
they care for nothing but listless ease and self-enjoyment, 
and only attend to what is before their very eyes! And 
still further, there is a class of women, who take pleasure 
in rambling among the hills, and going to see reunions ; 
who enter the temples (of bonzes ) to burn incense, so. 
much so that they even lean against the door posts and 
chat and laugh; they purchase this, and they buy that ; 
they smoke tobacco and look on at card-playing ; they 
play on wind instruments and on stringed instruments ; 
they sing and they chant; in short, there is (no wicked- 
ness) that they will not commit! (alas, for such women !) 
ye never think that your husbands married you into their 
families, in order that you might manage their house- 
hold, and augment their estate ; and with hearts united 
(spend a life of ) HARMONY together! You must know 
that when your husbands go abroad, they have to suffer 
many storms and much hoar-frost (2. ¢, blasts of adver- 
sity) ; they have to put up with much hardship and mis- 


HARMONY BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE, 327 


ery, striving to get a little money and food and raiment 
(for you,) while you are living comfortably at home, well 
fed and (agreeably) warm! If (under such circumstan- 
ces) you won’t have consideration (for his property,) but 
will even insist on throwing it away, indulging in extrav- 
agant expenses ; if you will not desire to learn what is 
good, then you cause that your husbands’ spirits get ex- 
hausted (by your cravings,) he will have no road (Zz. 4, 
door) of escape ; his household plans (2. ¢, means of 
support) will day by day stand upon a more feeble founda- 
tion, and when the latter days do indeed come, his affairs 
having gone to wreck and ruin, all manner of cold and 
hunger, of hardship and suffering —all these it will be your 
lot to go to suffer (along with him!) then, although you 
may lament and repent, yet then it will be too late! It will 
be no matter of wonder if your husband no longer loves 
you, if he wishes to cast you off, and to abhor you! why 
even the old and young of your own family will wish 
you dead, the sooner the better; your relations and 
friends, when they know of it, will desire your speedy 
annihilation! there is no one who will not talk ill of you, 
every one will spit at and upbraid you: why then should 
you make of yourself a WICKED WoMAN of the kind? 

Moreover, that you have not in this life been born a 
MALE, is owing to your amount of wickedness in a pre- 
vious state of existence having been both deep and 
weighty ; you would not then desire to adorn [virtue,] 
to heap up [good actions] and learn to do well; so that 
now you have been haplessly born a [ poor ] FEMALE! 
_ And if you do not this second time speedily amend 
your faults, this amount of wickedness [of yours] will be 
getting both deeper and weightier, so that it is to be 


328 - \ SELECTIONS. 


feared, in the next stage of existence, even if you should 
wish for a male’s body,* yet it will be very difficult to 
get it! 

You must know, “that for a woman to be without 

TALENT, is A VIRTUE [on her part!” ] No one desires 
that your zatura/ should be intelligent or your abilities 
of a high order ; they only wish that your disposition be 
mild and obedient, and that in looking after [household] 
matters, you be diligent and economical! they further 
desire that you do not disobey and contradict your father- 
in-law or mother-in-law, and that you do not insult or 
upbraid your husband ! and they still further desire that 
you should not offend, or cause separation among your 
elder brothers, or your younger brothers ; and that you 
be not harsh or cruel to the concubines and handmaids 
[of your household]. If you can so manage matters as 
to assist your husband in forming his family, and setting 
up a [respectable] establishment, not only will your hus- 
band respect you [for so doing] but beyond that, the 
father and mother [that you left behind you] in your 
mother’s home, your kindred and friends, what degree 
of meritorious glory will be theirs ; not only will your 
husband, your sons, and your daughters enjoy therefrom 
a deal of pleasure, but even you yourself will reap much 
comfort: these.are all most important words that I am 
speaking to you, YE WOMANKIND ; you must treasure 
them up in your memories ; quickly amend and repent, 
and learn to do well; you may on no account forget 
[these admonitions. | 





* Here is a recognition of the doctrine of transubstantiation, as 
taught by the Budhists. 


HARMONY BETWEEN. HUSBAND AND WIFE. 329 


If the husband and wife live HARMONIOUSLY together, 
then indeed will the breath of purity pervade your dwell- 
ing, your family affairs will prosper by degrees, and every 
day your happiness will be extreme! The plan by which 
such harmony is to be obtained (is none other than this:) 
Ye must love each other tenderly, and treat each other 
with respect as if you were strangers. Thus rich and 
poor must reman tranquil among themselves, noble and 
base must mutually bear and forbear! you may not de- 
pend upon your family having heaped up great wealth, 
and for that reason be proud and haughty ; you may not 
rely upon your personal appearance being noble and ds- 
tingué, and therefore insult and abuse people! even when 
faults occur between husband and wife, both parties must 
cover these (as with a mantle,) must make allowances, 
and bear with patience! ye should take great pains to in- 
struct and admonish each other, to cause (the party in 
wrong) to give ear (to reason,) and to adopt what is right ; 
ye may not give way to your temper, and storm and get 
angry! ‘The Book of Odes says, “Keep your house in 
proper order, and your wife and children will be happy!” 
This is a text which it would be right for HUSBANDs to re- 
cite every day. And Mencius says, (“Ye woman!) you 
must respect (your father-in-law, mother-in-law, etc., etc., 
etc.) and guard against (doing what is wrong ;) oppose 
not your husbands !” 

Wives! ye cannot but impress these words on your 
memories. For the MALE to be firm, and the FEMALE to 
be flexible, is what reason points out as a proper rule. 
But in this world you constantly meet with a class of hus- 
bands, who (foolishly) love, and (too much) respect their 
wives, as if they were more honorable or superior (to them- 


330 SELECTIONS. 


selves!) if anything occur, they are afraid to go before 
them ; and thus the woMAN becomes “the roaring lioness 
of Ho-tung,” or “the female fowl that announces the morn- 
ing!”* Such is by no means a happy omen in a family. 





* This phrase is taken from the SHOo-KING, and applies to the 
infamous CHow-WANG, being governed by his no less infamous 
wife. For the female bird to crow in the morning is, of coyrse, to 
usurp her consort’s prerogative. 


THOUSAND CHARACTER CLASSiC. 331 


EXTRACTS FROM THE THOUSAND CHARAC. 
TER CLASSIC. 


This is the second book put into the hands of pupils 
in the schools. It contains one thousand characters, or 
words, no two of which are the same. 

We borrow from a translation found in the Chinese Re- 
pository, Vol. IV. 


Now this our human body is endowed with four great 
powers and five cardinal virtues : 

Preserve with reverence what your parents nourished, 

How can you dare to destroy or injure it? 

Let females guard their chastity and purity ; 

And let men imitate the talented and virtuous. 

When you know your own errors, then reform ; 

And when you have made acquaintances, do not lose 
them ; 

Forbear to complain of the defects of the people ; 

And cease to rely (too much) on your own superiority, 

Let your truth be such as may be verified ; 

And your capacities, as to be measured with difficulty. 

Mih, seeing the white silk threads colored, wept : 

And the ode praises the pure fleeces of the lambs. 


332 hte SELECTIONS. o>. 2352 


Observe and imitate the conduct of the virtuous ; 

And command your thoughts, that you may become 
wise. 

Your virtue once fixed, your reputation will be estab- 
lished : 

Your habits once rectified, your example will-be cor- 
rect. 

Sounds are reverberated in the deep valleys ; 

And are reéchoed through the vacant halls: 

Even so misery is the recompense of accumulated vice; 

And happiness the reward of illustrious virtue. 

A foot of precious jade stone is not to be valued ; 

But for an inch of time you ought earnestly to contents 

In aiding a father, and in serving a prince, 

Are alike required both gravity and respect. 

The duty of filial piety demands every energy ; 

And fidelity to one’s prince extends even to a sactihee 
of life: 

Be watchful, as though near an abyss or walking on ice, 

Always rising early to attend to the comforts of your 
parents ; 

Then your virtue will rival the Epidendrum in fra- 
grance ; 

And in rich exuberance, be like the luxuriant pine ; 

In constancy, it will resemble the overflowing stream ; 

And in purity, the waters of the limpid, unruffled lake. 

Let your deportment be always grave and thoughtful, 

And your conversation calm and decided : 

Close attention at the commencement is truly admira- 
ble ; : 

Assiduity to the end is equally becoming and excel- 
lent: 


THOUSAND CHARACTER CLASSIC. 333 


- Such conduct is the basis of every glorious profession ; 
Its praises are great, and without limit. 
Excel in ia ge and you will ascend to official Sta: 
tion, ; 
Obtain rank, and be sate with the affairs of govern- 
ment: 
Then peat memory will be cherished like the sweet 
pear tree ; 
And when you are gone it will be treasured up in song. 
Music has distinctions for the noble and the ignoble ; 
Different rules of decorum mark superiors and infe- 
riors. 
Let superiors live in harmony, and inferiors in concord: 
As when the husband sings, the wife joins in chorus. 
Abroad, let the teacher’s instructions be duly heeded ; 
At home, let maternal counsels be strictly regarded. 
- All the children of your uncles and aunts 
_ Should be treated as your own sons and daughters. 
~ Ardently love your elder and younger brothers, 
Who are of the same blood and lineage with yourself, 
Associates must enjoy each other’s affections, 
_ Cutting, grinding, and paring off each other’s excres- 
cences. 
. Benevolence, tenderness, commiseration, and sympa- 
thy,” 
Must not, under any circumstances, be relinquished. 
' Consistency, justice, purity, and humility should not, 
Even in times of great revolution, be neglected. 
If the disposition be gentle, the passions will be tran- 
quil ; 
But if the mind is agitated, the spirit becomes ex- 
hausted. 


334 SELECTIONS, 


If you seek for realities, your desires will be fulfilled : 

If you indulge undue expectations, your wishes will be 
frustrated. 

Firmness of resolution, and steadiness of purpose, 

Will certainly secure to you official dignity. 

Among the royal cities of the elegant and great nation, 

Are the two capitals, the eastern and the western. 

Behind the one is the hill Mang ; before it, the river 
Lo: 

Around the other are the rapid Wei and the meander- 
ing King. 

' Numberless and intricate are the halls and palaces ; 
Lofty and commanding are the towers and galleries. 
Within them are paintings of beasts and birds ; 

And representations of deities and immortals. 

Splendid apartments are opened out on either side ; 

And on parallel rows of pillars, pavilions are supported. 

There are placed the seats for the imperial banquets, 

And are heard the stringed. and wind instruments ef 
music. 

Ascending the steps, and standing on the terraces, 

Is a waving sea of official caps, numerous as the stars. 

On the right, you pass to the “ wide inner hall ;” 

On the left is the entrance to the “splendid chamber.” 

There are collected the most ancient books and rec- 


ords ; | 
And crowds of illustrious men are always assembled. 
* 3 * * * * * 


The foundation of family aggrandizement lies in hus- 
bandry : 
Give good attention, therefore, to sowing and to reap- 


ing. | 


‘THOUSAND CHARACTER CLASSIC. 335 


Commence your labors on the southern fields ; 

For it is there we must first sow our grain. 

Taxes are paid in ripe grain; tribute, in the first fruits. 

Let the laborers be encouraged and rewarded, the 
indolent held back, (or degraded) and the industrious 
brought forward. 

Mang Ko (Mencius) esteemed plainness and simplic- 
ity 

And Yu, the historian, held firmly to rectitude. 

These nearly approached the golden medium— 

Being laborious, humble, diligent, and moderate. 

Listen to what is said, and investigate the principles 
explained ; 

Examine men’s conduct, that you may distinguish their 
characters ; 

Leave behind you none but purposes of good ; 

And strive to act in such a manner as to command re- 
spect. 

When satirized and admonished, examine yourself, 

And do this the more thoroughly when favors increase. 

* = * * * * %* 

Delight in reading and in studying the books found in 
the market ; 

When you find new ones, diligently treasure up their 
contents. 

Be very cautious of speaking hastily or rashly, 

For even to the walls of your apartment ears may be 
attached. 

Always provide plain food for your meals, 

Thus pleasing the palate and satisfying the appetite. 

Those who feed luxuriously loathe rich viands, 

While the hungry disdain not dregs and husks. 


336 f SELECTIONS. 


Even among kindred deference is due to the aged ; 
And food for the old and young should be different. 
* # * * * eS 


In epistolary correspondence be concise, speaking 
to the point ; 

And in verbal answers be discreet and explicit. 

When a person is unclean, he bethinks himself of the 
bath ; 

When one takes hold of hot things, he desires some- 
thing cooling. 

The asses and the mules, the calves and the cows, 

When they are frightened, leap about and flee away. 

Thieves and robbers are to be punished with death ; 

Rebels and deserters are to be pursued and taken. 

* * * ** * * % 


Years fly away like arrows, one pushing on another ; 
The sun shines brightly through his whole course, 
The planetarium where it is suspended constantly re- 
volves ; | 
And the bright moon also repeats her revolutions. 
To support fire, add fuel ; so cultivate the root of hap- 
piness, 
And you will obtain eternal peace and endless felicity. 
Let your step be even, and keep your head erect ; 
And looking up or down, maintain the respectful de- 
meanor of courts and temples ; 
- Let your dress be complete, and your deportment se- 
date, ee | 
Sustaining a modest, retiring, unobtrusive manner. 


EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DUTY. 337 


EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DUTY.* 


In the Chow dynasty lived Chung Yew, named also 
Tszeloo, who, because his family was poor, usually ate 
herbs and coarse pulse, and he also went more than a 
hundred li to procure rice for his parents. 

“¢ Alas!’ said Tszeloo, ‘although I was a scholar, yet 
my parents were poor, and how was I to nourish them ?’ 
Exhausted, he traveled the long road, and cheerfully 
brought the rice for his parents. Pleasantly he endured 
the toil, and exerted his utmost strength without any | 
commendation. At that time, his lot in life was hard 
and unfortunate, and he little expected the official honors 
he afterwards enjoyed. But when his parents were dead 
and he had become rich and honorable, enjoying all the 
luxuries of life, then he was unhappy and discontented ; 
not cheerful, as in the days of his poverty, nor happy, as 
when he ministered to his parents’ wants.” 





* From the “ TWENTY-FOUR EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DuTY’’—one 
of a class of works styled “juvenile” or “toy books.” — CHI- 
NESE REPOSITORY, VoL. VI. 


15 


338 SELECTIONS. 


During the Han dynasty lived Tung Yung, whose 
family was so very poor that when his father died, he 
was obliged to sell himself in order to procure money 
to bury his remains. 

“Tung could not endure to behold his father’s bones 
lie exposed, but to bury them he had not the requisite 
means. He saw that his household goods were not suf- 
ficient, and he said, ‘ This little body, what is the use ot 
it? If I sell my body, I can redeem it again; and thus 
can bury my father, who will not be dishonored.’ His 
filial piety moved Heaven to direct a female, in a super- 
human form, to come and help him in fulfilling his en- 
gagement ; she wove three hundred pieces of silk, and 
thus procured the redemption of a man of truly filial 
heart.” 


es 


In the time of the Han dynasty lived Keiing Kih, who, 
when young, lost his father, and afterwards lived alone 
with his mother. Times of commotion arising, which 
caused them much distress, he took his mother on his 
back, and fled. 

“Passing over the hills and wading through the 
streams, he carried his mother with much difficulty. It 
was during a year of famine, when all the inhabitants of 
the land were in confusion from the scarcity of food, and 
engagements were frequent between the soldiers and 
banditti, and signal fires were lighted on the high hills. 
Keing was fearful lest the robbers should meet him on 
the road and plunder him, and they did seize him, re- 
gardless of his cries and tears, and were about to rob 
him ; but when they knew of his filial piety and affection 


EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DUTY. 339 


to his mother, they permitted him to proceed. While 
journeying, he was too poor to procure any food beyond 
the bare necessaries of life ; and because he could not 
provide comforts and delicacies for his mother, he was 
grieved as if it had been his fault. He went and hired 
himself to labor ; with the greatest diligence he adhered to 
his purpose to sustain his mother ; and soon the stranger 
obtained an abundance of food and clothing. His suc- 
cess caused his mother to rejoice, and they were both 
delighted, she forgetting her former hardships in the joy 
that filled her bosom.” 





In the Han dynasty lived Hwang Heiing, who, when 
only nine years old, lost his mother, whom he loved so 
ardently and remembered so strongly that all the vil- 
lagers praised his filial duty. He was employed in the 
severest toil, and served his father with entire obedience. 

“When the heat of summer made it difficult to sleep 
quietly, the lad knew what would be for the comfort of 
his venerated parent. ‘Taking a fan, he slowly waved it 
about the silken curtains, and the cool air expanding, 
enveloped and filled the pillows and bed. In winter, 
when the snow threatened to crush in the roof, and the 
fierce wind shook the fences, and the cold penetrated to 
the bones, making it hazardous to unloose the girdle, 
then Heing warmed his father’s bed, that he might not 
fear, because of the cold, to enter the ‘ place of dreams.’ ” 





During the Han dynasty lived Ting-Lan, whose pa- 
rents both died when he was young, before he could obey 


340 SELECTIONS. 


and support them; and he reflected that for all the 
. trouble and anxiety he had caused them, no recompense 
had yet been given. He then carved wooden images of 
his parents, and served them as if they had been alive. 
“ He remembers his parents, but cannot see them ; he 
carved wood to represent their persons. He believes 
that their spirits are now the same as when they were 
alive, and his guileless heart trusts that their manes have 
entered the carved images. He cannot rest until he has 
made their statues, so strong is his desire to nourish and 
reverence them. He now reveres them, although dead, 
as if they were alive; and hopes that they will conde- 
scend to inhabit his ancestral hall.” 


During the Han dynasty lived Tsae Shun, whose 
father died when he was young, and who served his 
mother very dutifully. It happened that, during the 
_troubles of the times, when Wang-mang was plotting to 
usurp the throne, there were years of scarcity, in which 
he could not procure food, and Tsae was compelled to 
gather mulberries, which he assorted, putting them into 
two vessels. 

“ Anxious and fearful, he seeks for food; unremitting 
in his exertions, he takes up his baskets, and wends his 
way to the distant forest, and penetrated into the thicket, 
where he finds many mulberry trees. His hunger now 
has something to satisfy its cravings ; he also remembers 
his mother, and that he must carry some to her. The 
ripe and unripe berries he does not put together, but 
divides them, so that mother and son can each have 


EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DUTY. 341 


their proper portion. The chieftain heard of his con- 
duct, and highly praised him, conferring a gift upon him, 
and speaking of his filial piety to all around. Taking 
up his rice and flesh, Tsae returned home to his mother 
with the provision; and in joy, they even forgot that the 
year was one of dearth.” 


— 


During the Tsin dynasty lived Wang Tseiing, who 
early lost his mother, and his stepmother, Choo, had no 
affection for him. His mother was in the habit of eating 
fresh fish at her meals, but winter coming, the ice bound 
up the rivers. 

“The river is firmly bound up by ice, and the fish are 
hidden in their deep retreats. Perturbed and anxious, 
Wang goes out to seek the fish, apparently forgetting that 
it was winter. His determination is irrevocable, and 
although it is at the risk of his life, he will go. He was 
not dismayed at the coldness of the snow, nor terrified 
at the fierceness of the winds. Even the wicked spirits 
were intimidated from injuring him, and durst not mo- 
lest him. If metals and stones can be opened, shall ice 
be considered too difficult to rive? The frisking fish came 
upon the surface of the water, obedient to the hand of 
him who would take them out. A thousand ages can- 
not efface [the remembrance of ] the crack in the ice, 
nor obliterate the fragrant traces of so worthy an action.” 





In the Sung dynasty lived Choo Showchang, whose 
mother Lew, when he was seven years of age, because 


342 _ SELECTIONS. 


she was hated by his father’s wife, left the family ; and 
mother and son did not see each other for about fifty 
years. 

“Thus Choo exclaimed : ‘J have a mother, but alas! 
separated, we abide in different villages. It was not the 
free will of my mother which led her thus to forsake her 
son, but the envious mistress compelled her to go. With- 
out a mother, on whom shall I rely, and to whom pour 
out my sorrows and cares? Now I am grown older, and 
have become an officer, but as yet I have not been able 
to recompense the kindness of my parent. In what place 
among all the countries under heaven, does she live? I 
am determined to resign my office, and seek her abode, 
not deterred at the trouble of the search. To effect it, 
I will part from my family, and no longer be a compan- 
ion with them. I will not return till I find my mother, 
and they need not wait in expectation of me!’ Heaven 
directed his way, and he came into Tung-chow, where 
she resided. When the mother and son met each other, 
joy and grief together arose; for they had been separ- 
ated for fifty years, mourning because they were so far 
apart. But now in one hour, all their long accumulated 
griefs were disburthened, and joy and gladness filled 
their hearts. Choo possesses the true heavenly disposi- 
tion, and honors and riches cannot destroy his affection 
for his mother. He is more worthy of being praised than 
Wang-ling or Hwan-heaou.” 





In the reign of Yuen-yew of the Sung dynasty, Hwang- 
Ting-keen filled the office of prefect. He was of a very 
dutiful disposition, and although he was honorable and 


EXAMPLES OF FILIAL DUTY. 343 


renowned, yet he received his mother’s commands with 
the utmost deference. | 

“ Well written poetry flows along like rills meandering 
among the hills and valleys! This instance of a filial ° 
heart has not yet been brought into much notice. Daily 
he washed his parents’ furniture ; and both she who dwelt 
in the curtained room, (his mother) and he who remained 
in the hall, (his father) strove to express the merits of their 
son. It would be difficult to find another child that 
would have done so; all would be dilatory and unwilling, 
and where shall we meet another who would perform 
such drudgery themselves with alacrity and pleasure? 
Although elevated to an honorable position, he does not 
hesitate to perform those troublesome and minute duties, 
for he loves his parents: how can we suppose that he 
will change from what he was when young and anhon- 
ored!” 


344 SELECTIONS. 


CHINESE MORAL MAXIMS.* 


Though the good man be plunged in want, his virtue 
still remains to him. 

The poverty of others is not to be ridiculed, for the 
decrees of destiny are in the end equal 3 nor are the in- 
firmities of age a fit subject for laughter, since they must 
at last be the portion of us all. 

Though the white gem be cast into the dirt, its purity 
cannot be (lastingly) sullied; though the good man live ~ 
in a vile place, his heart cannot be depraved. 

If you do not entreat their assistance, all men will ap- 
pear good natured ; if you do not want to drink, it makes 
little difference whether the wine be dear or cheap. 

It is not easy to stop the fire, when the water is at a 
far distance: friends at hand are better than relatives 
afar off. 

There are only three great rules to be observed by 
those who hold public situations, viz: To be upright, to 
be circumspect, to be diligent. ‘Those who -know these 
three rules, know that by which they will insure their 
own safety in office. 





* Taken from a work compiled by John Francis Davis, F.R.S., 
China, 1823. | 


CHINESE MORAL MAXIMS. . 345 


A man’s prosperous or declining condition, may be 
gathered from the proportion of his waking to his sleep- 
ing hours. Unsullied poverty is always happy, while im- 
pure wealth brings with it many sorrows. 

The fame of men’s good actions seldom goes beyond 
their own doors; but their evil deeds are.carried to a 
thousand miles’ distance.* Lane 

The sincerity of him who assents to everything must 
be small ; and he who praises you inordinately to your 
face must be altogether false. 

Petty distinctions are injurious to rectitude ; quibbling 
words violate right reason. 

Though powerful medicines be nauseous to the taste, 
they are good for the disease; though candid advice be 
unpleasant to the ear, it is profitable for the conduct. 

_ To show compassion toward the people by remitting 
the severity of the taxes, is the virtue of the prince ; and 
to offer up their possessions, sinking their private views 
in regard for the public, is the duty of the people. 

The advantages of wise institutions can be sought for 
only in an inflexible observance of them. 

If a man does not receive guests at home, he will 
meet with very few hosts abroad. 

There are plenty of acquaintances in the world, but 
very few real friends. 

The evidence of others is not comparable to personal 
experience ; nor is “I heard,” so good as “I saw.” 

We should make it the business of our lives to control 





* “The evil which men do lives after them ; 
The good is oft interred with their bones.” 
—Shakspeare. 


346 SELECTIONS. 


our temper; and whenever we find it becoming unruly, 
that instant bring it into order. 

Wisdom, virtue, benevolence, and rectitude, without 
politeness, are imperfect. 

The dread of punishments is the best method of 
avoiding them. 

It is better’to believe that a man does possess good 
qualities than to assert that he does not. 

As it is impossible to please men in all things, our 
only care should be to satisfy our own consciences. 

A man’s countenance is a sufficient index of his pros- 
perity or adversity, without asking him any questions. 

Adversity is necessary to the development of men’s 
virtues.* 

It is too late to pull the rein when the horse has gained 
the brink of a precipice ; the time for stopping the leak 
is passed, when the vessel is in the midst of the river. 

The scholar is acquainted with all things, without the 
trouble of going out of doors. 

Those who respect themselves, will be honorable; but 
he who thinks lightly of himself, will be held cheap by 
the world. : 

Great promises are not followed by corresponding .ac- 
tions. 

As the behavior of the world toward men of learning 
is respectful, learned men should have a due respect for 
themselves. 

Expel pernicious doctrines, that the true code may be 
duly honored. 

If the stream be not confined, it will soon flow away 





* “ Sweet are the uses of adversity.” —Shakspeare. 


CHINESE MORAL MAXIMS. 347 


and become dry; if wealth be not economized, there 
will be no limits to its expenditure, and it will soon be 
wasted. 

It is easy to convince a wise-man ; but to reason with 
a fool is a difficult undertaking. 

To meet an old friend in a distant country may be 
compared to the delightfulness of rain after a long 
drought. 

Speak of men’s virtues as if they were your own, and 
of their vices as if you were liable to their punishment. 

The slow horse is fated to receive the lash ; the worth- 
less man will ultimately get his deserts. 

Inattention to minute actions will ultimately be preju- 
dicial to a man’s virtue. 

Though a poor man should live in the midst of a 
noisy market, no one will ask about him ; though a rich 
man should bury himself among the mountains, his rela- 
tions will come to him from a distance. 

Knowledge is boundless ; but the capacity of one man 
is limited. | 

Plausible words are not so good as straightforward 
conduct. 

A single conversation across the table with a wise man, 
is better than ten years’ mere study of books. 

Virtue is the surest road to longevity ; but vice meets 
with an early doom. 

The spontaneous gifts of Heaven are of high value; 
but the strength of perseverance gains the prize. 

In the days of affluence, always think of poverty; do 
not let want come upon you, and make you remember 
with sorrow the time of plenty. 

Prevention is better than cure. 


348 SELECTIONS. 


Modesty is attended with profit ; arrogance brings on 
destruction. 

It is equally criminal in the governor and the governed, 
to violate the laws. 

Meeting with difficulties, we think of our relations ; on 
the brink of danger, we rely on our friends. 

Do not love idleness and hate labor ; do not be dili- 
gent in the beginning, and in the end lazy. 

The mulberry slip follows its youthful bent. 

He who can suppress a moment’s anger will -prevent 
lasting sorrow. 

Better td be upright with poverty, than ipa with 
an abundance. 

The man of worth is really great without being proud ; 
the mean man is proud, without being really great. 

Do not anxiously hope for what is not yet come; do 
not vainly regret what is already past. 

Water must be kept in by dykes ; the passions must 
’ be ruled by the laws of propriety. 

If you have fields, and will not plow them, your barns 
will be empty ; if you have books, and will not give in- 
struction, your offspring will be ignorant. 

When you are happier than usual, you ought to be pre- 
pared against some great misfortune ; living in peace, 
you should think of danger. 

When the mirror is highly polished, the dust will not 
defile it; when the heart is enlightened with wisdom, 
licentious vices will not arise in it. 

Forming resentments with mankind may be called 
“ planting misery.” 

In enacting laws, rigor is indispensable ; in executing 
them, mercy. 


CHINESE MORAL MAXIMS. 349 


Do not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore prac- 
tice it; do not consider any virtue as unimportant, and 
therefore neglect it. 

If man’s desires and wishes be laudable, Heaven will 
certainly further them. 

Following virtue is like ascending a steep ; following 
vice, like rushing down a precipice. 

Those who have discharged their duties as children, 
will in their turn have dutiful children of their own. 

He who tells me of my faults is my teacher ; he who 
tells me of my virtues does me harm. 

Let your words be few, and your companions select: 
thus you will avoid remorse and repentance ; thus you ~ 
will avoid sorrow and shame. 

If a man’s wishes be few, his health will be flourish- 
ing; if he has many anxious thoughts, his constitution 
will decay. 

Honors come by diligence ; riches spring from econo- 
my. 

If you wish to know what most engages a man’s 
thoughts, you have only to listen to his conversation. 

Do not rely upon your wealth to oppress the poor ; do 
not trust to your power and station to vex the orphan 
and widow. 

Draw near to the virtuous, that their virtue may be im- 
parted to you; flee away from the vicious, that misfor- 
tune may be kept far from you. 

Propagate good instruction, to correct men’s vices ; 
part with your wealth, to effect men’s happiness. 

_ If aman be not enlightened within, what lamp shall 
he light? If his intentions are not upright, what pray- 
ers shall he repeat? 


350 SELECTIONS. 


Throughout life, beware of performing acts of animos- 
ity ; worthless men will always suffer rubs from others 
as bad as themselves. . 

The duration of wealth ill-gotten, is as that of snow 
on which hot water is poured ; the possession of lands im- _ 
properly obtained, endures as long as the sands heaped 
up by the waves. : 

The best cure for drunkenness is, whilst octet to ob- 
serve a drunken man. 

When you put on your clothes, remember the labor of 
the weaver ; when you eat your daily bread, think of the 
hardships of the husbandman. 

Would you understand the character of the prince, 
examine his ministers ; would you know the disposition 
of any man, look at his companions ; would you know 
that of the father. look at his son. 


APOTHEMS AND PROVERBS. 351 


APOTHEMS AND PROVERBS.* 


If the blind lead the blind they will both go into the 
pit. 
Misfortunes proceed from the mouth, and by the mouth 
diseases enter. : 
A fair wind raises no storm. 
The error of a thought the regret of a whole life. 
A little impatience subverts great undertakings. 
Vast chasms can be filled ; the heart of man is never 
satisfied. 
Diseases may be healed, but fate cannot be remedied. 
The body may be healed, but the mind is incurable. 
Instruction pervades the heart of the wise, but cannot 
penetrate the ears of a fool. 
A man may be deprived of life, but a good name can- 
not be taken from him. 
The extreme of joy is the beginning of sorrow. 
Every man sees the faults of others, but cannot dis- 
cern his own. 





* From Notitia Linguz Sinice; translated from Chinese into 
French, by Premare ; and from French into English, by J. G. Bridg- 
man, 


352 SELECTIONS. 


Words spoken are as wind ; the tracing of the pencil 
remains. 

Man sees only what is before him, but heaven beholds 
all things. 

Mere sound is empty; what is seen is solid: what 
is heard is doubtful ; what is seen is certain. 

Heaven directs the ways of men as a pilot directs a 
ship. 

If the fence is secure, the dogs will not enter. 

Better strong within than strong without. 

With money one can raise a spirit ; without it, he can-, 
not command a man. 

Virtue requires no coloring. 

A near friend is better than a distant relative. 

Good works remain at home; the evil, travel far abroad. 

The foolish husband fears his wife ; the wise woman 
fears her husband. 

Men’s fortunes are as variable as the weather. 

What is easily acquired is easily lost. 

Never engage in what you would fear to have known. 

The injustice of man may be endured, but the wrath 
of heaven destroys. 

Obsequiousness makes friends; truth excites hatred. 

A thing cannot be at the same time both true and 
false. 

A man’s face is known, but his heart cannot be told. 

Man contrives, but heaven decrees. 

A wise man will not reprove a fool. 

To indulge a servant is not safe; and to deceive a 
child is not proper. 

The tiger does not walk with the hind. 

He who pursues the stag disdains to notice the hare. 


APOTHEMS AND PROVERBS. 353 


The tiger does not molest a lying carcase. 

He who neglects a good opportunity must not after- 
wards complain. 

Trouble neglected becomes still more troublesome. 

Wood is not sold in the forest, nor fish at the pool. 

He desires to hide his tracks, and walks upon the snow. 

His desire to become agreeable renders him disgust- 
ing. 

He seeks the ass, and lo! he sits upon him. 

When the master is not rigid, the servant is remiss. 

For the crime of one, the whole family suffers. 

Speak not of others, but first convict yourself. 

If the root remain, the grass will grow. 

Great pleasures are purchased only with great pains. 

Do not choke yourself in eating, nor let your foot slip 
in walking. 

A slight deviation leads to a great error. 

A man is not always known by his looks, nor is the 
sea measured with a bushel. 

A gem is not polished without rubbing, nor is. man 
perfected without trials. 

Extreme peril requires extreme effort. 

A word spoken in the ear is heard a thousand miles off 

Ivory does not come from a rat’s mouth.* 

If I keep with my own wife, she will not be debauched 
by others. 

The wise forget past injuries. 

Man lives one age, the flowers one spring. 

Better not be, than be nothing. 

The good seek each other, the bad mutually repel. 





* Do not look for wisdom out of the mouth of a fool, 


354 SELECTIONS. 


One thread does not make a rope ; a swallow does not 
make a summer. 

Domestic foibles must not be exposed. 

A faithful subject dies without fear, and a virtuous 
woman meets danger with delight. 

Between husband and wife there must be all affection ; 
between friends all fidelity. 

Consider the past and you will know the future. 

Though the sword be sharp, it will not wound the in- 
nocent. 
_ Sensual indulgence is the greatest evil ; filial obedi- 
ence is the highest good. 

Great effects require great efforts. 

Not only beauty but talents may infatuate a person. 

Great humility secures great honor. 

That which soars not high is not hurt by a fall. 

When wealth is not rightly obtained, misfortune is 
sure to follow. 

While the two contend a third secures the gain. 

A day of sorrow is longer than a month of joy. 

The whole world presents no continual feast ; no earth- 
ly pleasure is permanent. 

No distance can separate what heaven unites, or unite 
what heaven separates. 

The prisoner dreams of freedom; the thirsty of springs 
of water. 

It is only the naked who fear the light. 

A flower is not in bloom a hundred days, nor a man 
in his prime a thousand. 

He who is not grateful is unworthy of being called a 
man, 


APOTHEMS AND PROVERBS. 355 


It is not wine that makes a drunkard, the man intoxi- 
cates himself. 

He who shakes the bush rouses the serpent. 

If the escort proceed a thousand miles, a separation 
must at length occur. 

A strife may be properly ended, but not properly be- 
gun. 

If what we see is doubtful, how can we believe what is 
spoken behind the back. 

Do not show your cash when you go to the market. 

Obedience is better than respect. 

True gold does not fear the fire. 

Every man to his taste. 

Wine will both finish and furnish business. 

Wine discovers the sentiments of the heart. 

The full moon does not last, and the bright cloud soon 
vanishes. 

It is man who is bad, not the law. 

Happy is he who fights with himself; wretched who 
contends with others. 

Night comes alike to the young who wake, and to the 
old who sleep ; both old and young are exposed to death. 

Blessings come not in pairs ; calamities occur not sin- 


gle. 


356 SELECTIONS. 


MORAL APHORISMS, BY THE DOCTOR HU 
TSIN-YANG.* 


If an upright heart be not maintained, interment in a 
lucky place avails nothing. 

Without filial duty to parents, sacrifice to the gods 
avails nothing. 

If there be discord between brethren, harmony among 
friends avails nothing. 

With a disorderly life, pursuit of letters avails nothing. 

With a proud temper cherished, universal knowledge 
avails nothing. 

If folly guides in the transaction of affairs, perspicacity 
of intellect avails nothing. 

If the natural constitution be not attended to, to swal- 
low medicine avails nothing. 

If fate be unpropitious, wild endeavors (to gain the 
desired end) will avail nothing. 

With the substance of others unjustly possessed, alms- 
giving avails nothing. 

If lustful desires be entertained, piety and devotion 
avail nothing. . 





* Transactions of Chinese Branch of Royal Asiatic Society, 
Part III, 1851-2. 


ANCIENT CHINESE POETRY. 357 


ANCIENT CHINESE POETRY. 


— 


THE HARMONIOUS WATER BIRDS.* 


The harmonious voices of the sacred water-birds 
Are heard from their river island home : 

This excellent damsel, retiring and mild, 

Is a lovely mate for our virtuous prince ; 

On the waves of the river’s running stream, 

(The Hang plant’s stalks’ uneven stems) 

Are swaying to and fro: 

This excellent damsel, retiring and mild, 

When waking and sleeping, our prince was seeking. 
While seeking, but not having found, 

His troubled thoughts waking and sleeping exclaimed, 
How long! Oh how long! 

He turns him around on his bed, and turns back, 
He turns him all around and returns, 

The Hang plant’s stalks’ uneven stems 

Are swaying to and fro. He gathers them now; 





* Ode first, of the Book of three hundred Odes; Chinese Reposi- 
tory, Vol. XVI. 


358 SELECTIONS. 


This excellent damsel, retiring and mild, 

With lutes and guitars he welcomes her home. 

The Hang plant’s stalks’ uneven stems 

Are swaying to and fro, they are fit for offering now. 

This excellent damsel, retiring and mild, 

With music of bells and of drums, come welcome her home, 


VERSES FROM THE TAI YA.* 


The following verses are extracted from a collection 
of odes written under the first emperors of the Chet 
dynasty. During the time of Lé wang, B.c. 850, the af- 
fairs of the State were in disorder, and a poet uttered 
the following complaints: 


Against that wild and hostile gale, 

The panting traveler’s strength must fail. 
Willingly would the people bring 

Good words of wisdom to their king ; 
But ah! they are compelled to say, 

The time to act is far away. 

It would be better for us now, 

To seek the fields, and delve, and plough ; 
Resign state service, and instead 

Toil with the people for our bread. 

To labar in the fields all day, 

It is a heavy price to pay; 

But it were better not to grieve, 

And earn by toil wherewith to live. 





* From the “ Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal 
Asiatic Society,” 1853, Part IV, page 55. 


ANCIENT CHINESE POETRY. 359 


VERSES BY THE POET SU.* 


To a new and lonely home, 
Seeking quiet I have come, 
Cherishing, while none intrude, 
Thoughts in love with solitude. 
Mountain prospects front my door, 
And the Tiing flows on before. 
In its waters deep I see 

Images of house and tree. 
*Neath that thicket of bamboo, 
Snow lies all the winter through, 
In my darkened cottage home, 
Long ere nightfall all is gloom. 
In this unobserved retreat, 
Freed from the gay world I sit, 
Listening to the birds that sing 
Anthem to the welcome spring. 





* Translation of Chinese Poetry of the medizval period—see 
“Transactions of the China Branch of the Royal Asiatic So- 
ciety,” Part IV, 1853, page 57. 


360 SELECTIONS. 


MODERN CHINESE POETRY. 


The verses given below are by Commissioner Lin, from 
the SHay Yinc Low SHE WHA—verses and prose from 
the Eagle-shooting Turret, printed in Fuh-chow-Foo, and 
translated for the Zransactions of the China Branch of 
the Royal Asiatic Society, Part III, 1851-2. 

Commissioner Lin, as near as we can learn, was born 
in Fuh-chow-Foo about 1787. He was distinguished as 
a scholar, and honored with many high offices under gov- 
ernment. About 1838, he was commissioned as Prefect 
of Canton, and charged especially “to punish the con- 
sumers of opium.” His activity and the vigor of his 
policy were the immediate cause of hastening the rupture 
between China and England, and of bringing on the 
war. In consequence of the troubles caused the gov- 
ernment by his foo faithful discharge of duty, he was 
recalled, was degraded in rank, and afterwards banished 
to E-li, a desolate region far in the northwest territories 
of China. Some of his verses have reference to that 
banishment. 

He was afterwards released, his rank restored, and he 


was again honored with imperial favor. 


MODERN CHINESE POETRY. 30 I 


He was a voluminous writer. He prepared maps, ge- 
ography, history, and statistics, respecting the different 
nations of the earth. He died about 1851. 


Of the Poetical Compositions of Lin, a few translated 
specimens follow. They are crowded with allusions to 
the classics and to the legends of China. Lin’s poetry 
is the subject of the highest eulogies from the critics of 
his nation; they call it bold, elevated, pathetic—exhib- 
iting the warmth of his affections and the power of his 
mind. He is almost invariably spoken of under the title 
conferred upon him by the emperor— Wdn Chung Kung 
—‘“the literary and faithful.” 


STANZAS WRITTEN WHILE ON HIS BANISHMENT, THREAD- 
ING THE PASS OF KEAYU, A GATE OF THE GREAT 
WALL ON THE BORDERS OF KAN-SUH. 


Proud towers the frowning wall that bounds the west, 
Here the tired exile reins his steed—to rest. 

Turret on turret in mid-air suspended, 

Till with the distant woods of Shez-se blended ; 
Tower rears on tower upon the Sze-chuen clouds, 
And mighty mountain upon mountain crowds ; 

Their craggy peaks up to Heaven’s boundary rise 
While the waste’s vast extension dims men’s eyes. 
Yaou-han’s* most perilous pass, discern’d from hence, 
Is but a clay-clod to the visual sense. 





* Yaou-han is a mountain pass in Shen-se renowned for the dan- 
gers of its defile. It was here the overthrow of the Tsin dynasty 
took place. 


16 


362 SELECTIONS. 
Other scenery that he meets with is thus described— 


The orient to the occident opes its door, 

On star-lit plank* new regions I explore, 

Soft reed-born music} o’er the waste is flung ; 

O’er my sword bent, I track the towers-crowned Tung, 
In the moon’s light the horses quench their thirst, 
And ’midst the desert-tempests hawks are nurst : 
Loo-tung’s wild wastes of mountains and of seas 
Alone present such fearful scenes as these. 


There is a charm of real tenderness in Lin’s verses to 
his wife, expressing the delight he felt at receiving her 
portrait—assurance in his exile of her unchangeable af- 
fection. She is spoken of as a lady of high education, 
but appears to have suffered from some deformity in her 
hands, to which he makes allusion in his address : 


Like the wild water-fowls, in mutual love 
Each upon each dependent, did we move; 
But now—grief-stricken—a poor, lonely man, 
I roam in desolate exile! Still the ban 

Of separation is less hard from thee— 





* Orig. “Like Powang I embark on a star-lit log to discover 
new regions.” Tradition reports that in the thirtieth year of Yaou, 
a great log was seen in the western ocean, bearing a light which 
shone brightly during the darkness, but was invisible in the day. 
This log floated periodically round the Four Seas, making the cir- 
cuit once in twelve years, and was called the “ penetrate moon log,” 
or pendant star log. 

t “ Reed echoing reed pours forth the air of Cheh-lih over the 
desert.” Cheh-lih air—a foreign song. 


MODERN CHINESE POETRY. 363 


Beloved ! than would the horse-hide cerement* be ! 
Why should I weep ?—I breathe the mountain air,t 
Although a herdsman’s humble garb I wear— 

Yet I must weep—for my mind’s troubled eye 

Sees thee on suffering’s couch of misery ; 

Thy gay cosmetics all neglected,—thou 

Dost never seek the flattering mirror now ; 

Yet thy fair characters, in verse outpoured, 

Have raptured all my soul—mine own adored ! 

I see thee,—welcome thee,—in every line, 

Whose every pencil touch, dear Wife! is thine! 


He proceeds :— 


Oft think I of thy shrivel’d hand again ! 

Well may it guide a melancholy pen ! 

Shall it not be restored? the wondrous gem 
Shines on thy verses, spiritualizing them 

As with a heavenly agency.{ Grass of gold,§ 
Thou scatterest—and thy mystic strains unrolled, 
Make my heart vibrate. There’s a power in song, 





* Ma Yuen, a hero of the Han dynasty, in order to show his de- 
votion to his country, exclaimed, “‘ Let me die in battle, and my 
corpse be wrapped up, and sent home in a horse’s hide.” 


7 Orig. “I am a free traveler”—implying resignation to his 
fate, and rejoicing that he was not in confinement. The weeping 
in herdsman’s clothes refers to an adventure of Wang chang, an 
official of rank under the Han dynasty. 

$} The wondrous gem refers to the sudden cure of a deformity 
of the hand which is reported to have happened to a wife of Kow 
Kwo under the Han dynasty. 

§ This refers to the lanceolated leaf strokes formed by the Chi- 
nese pencil in writing, and which are much admired. 


364 SELECTIONS. 


Stronger than sorrow—was not Tsai Leuen* strong 
In all her grief? how blest, my wife! to hear 

Thy heart-thoughts pour’d so sweetly in mine ear— 
As if thy very soul were stamp’d in strains 

Of truth and love—to lighten all my pains. 


The lines which follow, also written during his banish- 
ment, are full of metaphors having reference to the mis- 
eries inflicted upon him by his banishment from the 
Emperor’s presence : ~ 


Thick falling flakes of all-pervading snowt 

Hide heaven above,t and shroud the earth beiow 
In trackless desolation ; stumbling on 

With broken shoes, I front the blast§—alone ; 
In the deep snow, up to his ears, my steed 

Is sepulchred. Upon the raven’s head 

The snow drops perseveringly ;—but oh! 

That head becomes not whiter from the snow.|| 
Le soo’s wild host in vain I seek around ;J 





* Tsai Liuen was a fairy, who married a man called Wan Sih. 
She wrote poetry to support herself, and bore her misfortunes with 
much serenity. 

+ The flakes of snow are meant-to indicate his political defi- 
ciencies and errors. 

t Heaven—the favor of the sovereign, the son of heaven. 

§ Blast—the Emperor’s displeasure. 

|| This passage refers to the hopelessness of his condition, and 
the small chance of his return from banishment. 

4] Le soo, a general of the Tang dynasty, availed himself of a - 
snow-storm to capture a town, and thus obtained the favor of the 
emperor. Lin deplores that the absence of all that favored Le soo 
prevents his earning his sovereign’s approval, 


MODERN CHINESE: POETRY. 365 


In what poor hut can Yuen-gan now be found ?* 

The pines and the bamboos are buried all ;t 

White streamers float—and cups of silver fall.¢ 

The following is a translation of another of Lin’s plaints. 

The humble cruise—the muddy urn—the grain-heap—are 
all the accompaniments and the evidences of degradation 
and misery. His recourse to the contents of the cruise 
only augments his suffering. The allusion to the az 
chung—literally “cold or chilled insect ””—cannot be trans- 
ferred to English. The animal is said to be a winged 
quadruped, sometimes called Han haou chung, inhabiting 
the Woo Tai mountains of Shan-se. Its summer plu- 
mage is reported to be most splendid, and its song or 





* During the Han dynasty a heavy snow-storm fell in Ho-nan 
at Loyang, and lay ten feet deep upon the ground. The magis- 
trates ordered an investigation, and found all the inhabitants en- 
gaged in sweeping the snow from their doors except one Yuen-gan, 
who was reported to be dead. On entering his house, the magis- 
trates found him in his bed, and inquiring the reason, he answered, 
*‘ In these heavy snow-storms the people all starve. It is not seemly 
that I should go out, interfere with, or annoy them.” The Che- 
héen was so delighted with his disinterestedness, that, deeming him 
a sage, he gave him employment, and he eventually became a fa- 
mous magnate. Lin implies, that during the snow-storm, there 
will be no search in his case for one to be called to public honors. 


+ Lin compares himself to the pines and bamboos all hidden by 
snow. 


} A line borrowed from a poem of Han-yii under the Tang dy- 
nasty. 
‘* The chariot is chased by the snow, and the whitened streamers flutter ; 
The horse is pursued, and flings on every side cups of silver,” 
referring to the cup-like forms flung from the horses’ hoofs when 
galloping through snow. 


306 SELECTIONS. 


call at that period is “ Fung hwang puh joo wo!—The 
Phoenix does not equal me.” But as winter approaches, 
the gay plumage disappears, and it wanders about, a poor 
unfledged fowl, crying, “Zi kwo tseay kwo—What I 
must bear I bear.” These last words are introduced into 
the poem. The antithesis of the original is pretty, and 
verbally rendered thus :— 


Wish sleep—no sleep—night descends eternally, 
What must be borne, I bear—the cold insect cries. 


The reference to the useless and broken wheel — 
scorned and laughed at—is a bitter allusion to the sup- 
posed termination of his official career :-— 


My half-exhausted cruise hath nothing left 

But thick and muddy drops; fatigued—bereft, 

I pant—and ask a cooling draught in vain. 

Fain would I sleep, but when will sleep again 
Visit these weary nights—so dark—so long— 

O woe! O woe! is all the Han chung’s song. 
Could wine restore the free, the tranquil breasts 
Like an old broken wheel—men’s scorn and jest— 
I rise and sink—my empty cruise is all 

My pillow; yet for others there shall fall 

Wine from the grain-heap, while for me unblest 
My grain-heap is my only couch of rest. 


Though the general character of Lin’s poetry is grave 
and gloomy, he sometimes breaks out in assumed gayety. 
For example :— 


Nay ! what’s the use of grieving ?—I’ll laugh my woes away, 
And bear my bosom loftily, and to my spirit say,— 
Why, life is full of errors, and place is full of strife, 


MODERN CHINESE POETRY. 357 


And when life’s props are wanting, how weak a reed is life! 
The winds and waves are roaring—the distant hills they hide ; 
Through sand and dust I wander, perplexed on every side. 
I'll hear the children prattle—I’ll joy me in their folly, 

I’ll watch the lanterns carelessly—and chase my melancholy. 


The two last lines refer to a foolish fellow called Chaou 
Laou—* Old Chaou ”—often spoken of in Chinese nov- 
els. He is said to have construed the derision of the 
boys and their poking their lanterns at him, as evidences 
of their good will. 


Another ode runs thus: 


On my weak frame a heavy burden lay, 

Heavier and heavier—from my strength’s decay. 
I cannot bear the load—and yet for thee, 

My country! Life or death would welcome be. 
Why seek—why shun or life or death ?—for still 
Ill will be blent with good, and good with ill. 
My honors—my disgrace alike record 

The abounding favor of my Sovereign Lord ; 
And to his will submitting, I’ll become 

The meanest soldier of my penal home ; 

I with my laughing wife will laugh and play, 
Talk of old times—while she shall sing the lay, 
“Risk not your venerable scalp, I say.” 


These verses are characteristic of the prostrations of 
the Chinese mandarins before the emperor. They inva- 
riably profess to receive his rewards and punishments 
with equal respect—nay, often when misfortunes have 
attended their administration, they solicit punishment, 
even condemnation to death, for having been unable to 
accomplish the wishes of their sovereign. 


368 SELECTIONS. 


The last line refers to a curious tradition respecting an — 
old man and practiced poet named Yang-po, whom one 
of the emperors of the Sung dynasty wished to employ — 
in a public post, but the old man refused ; on which being 
summoned to the emperor’s presence, the emperor asked 
why he had not appeared, (to be initiated into office) and 
what poetry he had lately produced. Yang-po answered, 
he had not come, because his wife had taken poetry- 
making out of his hands, and had favored him with this 
quatrain :— 


Tipple no more, thou silly one ! 
But stop thy mad and foolish strains ; 
Now thy official life’s begun, 
Risk not th’ old scalp that holds thy brains ! 


This, as may be supposed, was an impromptu effusion 
of his own, but it answered its purpose. ‘The emperor 
was delighted with the cleverness of the joke, and Yang- 
po was allowed quietly to wend his way homewards. 


In the domestic schoolroom thou art found,— 

So friends report thee—scattering knowledge round, 
O sweet to hear the echoing hall resound 

With verse and music—thou art well employ’d. 

Be my old wines expended and enjoy’d,* 

In liberal streams ! Disport thyself and sing, 

And play in laughing rhymes with Azzg and Ping,t 





* A report had reached Lin that a draught of medicated wine had 
been beneficial to his wife’s health—so he urges her to continue its 
use. 


+ Rhyming Azzg and Ping. There is a story in the History of 
the Southern Dynasties, of Sun King-tsun, a famous general in the 


MODERN CHINESE POETRY. 369 


Call to the merry hall our grandsons too, 

And teach them how to read their che and woo,;* 
Upon the chess-board strive to win the day, 

And never lose your temper in your play. 

Time’s snows are on my head—and youth is gone, 
And spite of thought, disease and death come on’; 
Why should I fly from what I cannot shun ?f 

I see thee in a distance—cherish’d one ! 

With hair dishevel’d—while men shout the name 
Of this man’s honor and of that man’s fame. 
While I and minet are wandering! Grief! be still’d; 
Go! till the garden; cultivate the field; 

Yet may I join thy rustic toils, content 





time of Woo Te, of Leang, who on his return from a warlike exype- 
dition went to court and found the Emperor and his friends amus- 
ing themselves with the douts rimés. ‘* He cannot make poetry,” 
said they, and the Emperor would not allow him to join the game. 
On his entreaty not to be excluded, the only remaining rhyme was 
handed to him; it was A7zug and Ping, meaning “ quarrelsome ” 
and “sick.” But Sun King-tsun improvised this guatrain: 

I went—my family grieved ; I came, 

And the pipes and the drums are rolickimg ; 

And I ask the passengers now I’m home— 

Am I not like the famous Ho Kheu-fing? 

Ho Kheu-ping was an illustrious general who subdued the Heung 
noo, and Sun King-tsun was not deemed the less happy, in that the 
concluding zg was only in sound, but not in character, the same 
with that handed over to his sagacity. 


* Read Che and Woo. It is said that Pih Lo-téen, a poet contem- 
porary with Le Taiepih, learnt the two characters when only a few 
months old; they had been pointed out by his nurse. 


} The line is Byron’s, the thought is Lin’s. 


t Orig. “I and my son.” 
16* 


370 | _ SELECTIONS. 


_ With a hind’s wages*—'neath a rustic tent, 
So that with thee life’s short remains be spent. 


He thus celebrates the extent of the Chinese Empire: 


Old Téen-hwang now is but a weedy waste,t 

“But Yang-kwan’s{ gate has ancient Tsew replaced. 
A dyke was once Han’s boundary,§ now th’ expanse, 
Fill’d then by wild fowl, owns Yaou’s heavenly glance. 
And the celestial influence spreading wide,|l 
Absorbs new sovereignties on every side. 
Majestic prowess rolling towards the west, 


Gives to the farthest regions peace and rest. 





* This has reference to an eminent literary character under the 
How Han dynasty. In his poverty he and his wife supported them- 
selves by obtaining the wages of laborers for pounding rice. 


+ An ancient encampment of the outer barbarians beyond the ex- 
treme western point of the Great Wall. 


_ $ Yang Kwan is another name for the Kea-yii pass, and the gate 
replacing the ancient Tsew Tseuen represents the progress of the 
Chinese power. 

§ A dyke formerly separated the territories of Han and Tsoo; 
it passed through the modern province of Ho-nan (at Yung-yang 
Héen) communicating with the Yellow river at Yung-tsih. 

|| Orig. ‘*The majesty of the throne has spread far since the 
exposure of Urh-foo”—a foreign tribe headed by Wei hie who 
murdered a chief of a neighboring tribe. 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. Ke 


A RECENT VISIT TO THE CLASSIC GROUNDS 
OF CHINA. 


After an introduction, such as the foregoing pages 
afford, to the ancient sages and emperors, and all the 
worthies who figured in Chinese history and song as 
rulers, teachers, or authors, the reader will begin to feel 
a desire to learn more respecting the present condition 
of the country in which they lived. Were it possible, he 
would make a pilgrimage to the places of their birth, and 
the scenes among which they lived and acted. He would 
visit their tombs, and study the inscriptions on their 
Monuments. 

The roads leading to those sites, made memorable in 
Grecian and Roman history, are always alive with enthu- 
siastic tourists. 

Scarcely a class in any college, but at one time or an- 
other has had its representatives in the lands of Homer 
and Virgil, longing to see with their own eyes every spot 
which has been immortalized by the historian’s and by the 
poet’s pen: yearly, for ages past, have fresh throngs of 
pilgrims appeared around the pyramids, and gone search- 
ing through the temple-ruins of Egypt: Palestine, with 
all its sacred associations, is still fresh ground to each 


372 RECENT VISIT TO THE 


successive tourist: in later years Babylon and Nineveh 
are rewarding the search of the antiquarian : while China 
until lately, has kept itself shut in, and other portions 
of the world shut out. Recently, however, the walls were 
scaled, and foreign scholars are now not only penetrat- 
ing all the fields of her literature, but they are visiting 
the places where were enacted the scenes of four thou- 
sand years ago. ‘They find the monuments which for 
thousands of years have withstood the ravages of time: 
they study and translate their inscriptions. 

It is with peculiar pleasure that we are able to lay be- 
fore the reader, ere he shall close this volume, the out- 
lines of a picture of the classic grounds of China. 

What we here present is compiled from the notes of a 
journey which was recently made through the regions 
which were traveled over by the renowned Yu, when en- - 
gaged in redeeming the country from the desolations 
caused by the inundation ; regions over which Confucius 
traveled on foot or rode in his chariot of primitive pat- 
tern ; regions which are rich in monuments of a more 
hoary antiquity than any other land can boast. 

That those monuments with their inscriptions are pre- 
served perfect down through so many generations, will 
cause less surprise when it is known that many of them 
are within the temples, sheltered from the action of 
storms and sun. Another reason for their preservation 
is found in the permanent character of the population : 
the families do not move about from place to place, but 
as the old disappear, children succeed them, perpetuat- 
ing the name and the occupation of the fathers from 
generation to generation. Should there be civil wars, 
still the tombs, ancient tablets, and monumental struc- 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. 373 


tures are sacred, and no harm is allowed to come to 
them. 

The quotations given below are from the “ Notes of a 
journey from Pekin to Chefoo, va the Grand Canal, 
Yen-Chow-Foo, etc., by Rev. A. Williamson.” 

See Yournal of the North China Branch of the Royal 
Asiatic Society; New Series, No. LL1, 1866. 

The Journal says: 

On the 18th October, 1865, I set off from Peking in 
company with a native teacher: at Tung-chow-foo we 
obtained a boat to take us on to Lin-tsing-chow, the spot 
where the Grand Canal divides into two branches—the 
main branch leading to Hang-chow-foo and the river 
Yang-tze, the other, called the Wei-ho, to Ho-nan and 
the west. Two days took us to Tien-tsin, and our jour- 
ney may be said to have begun. 

Traveling along this portion of the Canal we found it 
in excellent repair, from eighty to one hundred feet wide, 
and from eight to ten feet deep. The towns along the 
banks were less flourishing than I had anticipated, many 
being little better than heaps of ruins ; the only towns of 
real importance on the way to Lin-tsing being Tsau-chow 
and Yiih-chow, spelt Yi-chow in the Admiralty maps ; 
the former incloses a large space of ground, but there 
does not appear to be extensive business carried on. 

Arriving at Lin-tsing we found it to be an extensive 
market for all kinds of goods ; the city had been burned 
down by the Taiping rebels several years ago, and had 
not been rebuilt. Here the Canal branches off in two 
directions, one to Ho-nan and south-westward, and the 
other, and formerly the principal one, proceeding south, 
to Soo-chow and Hang-chow. Here the famous locks 


37+4 RECENT VISIT TO THE 


commenced, but they were now all out of repair, and the 
Canal all but dry; accordingly we had to leave our boats 
and hire carts. The road ran nearly parallel with the 
Canal, and so we had the pain of seeing its dilapidated 
appearance, every now and then ; we were told that it 
was useless for between sixty and seventy miles, but re- 
ceiving a supply from the Yellow River, it again became 
navigable, and continued so on to its ancient termina- 
tion. 

Proceeding onwards, we found cotton growing in great 
abundance, and whole families, and especially the female 
portion of the households, busy picking the wool. Here, 
for the first time, I met with numbers of those extraor- 
dinary wheelbarrows propelled by sails, familiar to most 
of us in written accounts of China, but seen by so few ; 
at first sight we hardly knew what to make of them-- 
something moving along on dry ground with a sail set. 

The next morning we came in sight of the fine bell 
tower of Tung-chang-foo, and at last reached the city 
about 8 o’clock, A.M. We found it to be a most impor- 
tant place ; the city was in good order, well fortified, 
and with a fine bell tower in the center. But the east- 
ern suburbs far exceeded the city proper in importance ; 
they were most extensive, and the trade appeared enor- 
mous. I had seen nothing equal to them, unless it be 
the eastern suburbs of Shanghai, or the great north street 
of Tien-tsin. The city was nearly surrounded by water, 
partly by canal and the Yellow River. In summer time 
pleasure boats ply for hire all round the place. 

Up to this point of our journey we found it somewhat 
difficult to identify places which are mentioned in the 
old books, but here the country began to be exceedingly 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. 375 


rich in historical associations ; this feature increased 
every day, culminating in the Temple and Tomb of 
Confucius, though not ceasing there. This city is sup- 
posed to take its name from a very famous man called 
“ Chang,” who rose in rebellion against Chow, the last 
emperor of the Yin dynasty, and having defeated him, 
took the little Wang (king) Wan, of Chow, and founded 
the Chow dynasty, of which his son Woo was the first 
Emperor. He lived about B.c. 1100. 

Having spent some hours in the city, we again set out, 
few objects of interest presenting themselves. Passing a 
village called Wo-chung, hills appeared in sight; we 
knew that the famous Yellow River skirted their bases, 
and so our enthusiasm began to rise. The road became 
extremely soft and clayey, and we were nearly stuck fast ; 
this part of the country having evidently been recently 
overflowed by “ China’s Sorrow.” Slowly the river dawned 
upon our vision, like a mighty yellow dragon lying at rest 
on the level soil: at two o’clock we reached the ferry ; 
there also we found a military post, for it was said there 
were bands of mounted robbers in the neighborhood ; 
the soldiers were very civil. 

We found the river broad, rapid and muddy ; though 
not so broad as we anticipated ; much wider than the 
Thames at London bridge. There were multitudes of 
ferry boats of all sizes plying, and having selected one 
of the largest, had our cart and mules and ourselves 
quickly placed on board, as we wished to travel forty # 
further that afternoon. 

Our route lying direct through the scene of Great Yu’s 
labors, I endeavored to pierce the mystery of that great 
flood which has so long interested Chinese scholars, and 


376 RECENT VISIT TO TIE 


which is graphically described in the Shoo-King and in 
Mencius ; and also tried to identify the hills and the riv- 
ers operated upon by that indefatigable minister. Con- 
sulting old maps of China, we find that in very ancient 
times the Yellow River called the Ho followed a very dif- 
ferent course from what it now pursues ; it flowed north 
into Chi-lf province, then north and east, disemboguing 
itself somewhere near the present Ta-k’ow, probably by 
the channel of that river now called the Pei-ho. Keep- 
ing this in view, and considering the nature of the coun- 
try which we have just described, we gain not a little 
light upon the point. The whole district, containing the 
greater part of Chi-li, the northwestern part of Shantung, 
and all around, extending over I knew not how many 
hundred square miles, is one great plain full of marshes, 
many parts little, if any, above the level of the sea. This 
river is not only one of the largest in the world, but the 
most wayward; it is constantly breaking through its 
banks, and changing its course, and has been a perpet- 
ual source of anxiety to every dynasty; and great the 
labor and fabulous the sums which have been expended 
- upon it. 

But to return to our journey: having disembarked, we 
made for the village of Li-lieu-Kiau, one / distant, about 
Lat. 36° 25’ N., Long. 116° 18’ E. Here the roads be- 
came so bad, that they were impassable even for carts, 
and we had to turn to the wheel-barrows. Owing to the 
proximity of the rebels there was a large military force 
here: the men seemed far superior to the average of Chi- 
nese soldiers. We next day entered a hilly district, and 
crossed several streams, skirting the side of a picturesque 
lake abounding with water-fowl. 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. 377 


Having gained the level country again, we stopped at 
Tung-ping-chow. This city lies on a river, and is a place 
of considerable trade. The neighboring farmers were 
engaged in sowing wheat at the time of my visit ; large 
quantities of arrow-root grow near this city and suburbs. 

Here we again stood on historical ground. This is the 
district anciently called Tung-yuen, referred to in the 
Shoo-King as having been successfully brought under 
cultivation by the operations of the Great Yu. The soil 
and trees still correspond with the description given more 
than four thousand years ago. It is still clayey, red and 
rich, and the trees and grass strong and bushy. (Shoo- 
King, Book I, Chap. V.) 

The city had evidently taken its name from that same 
passage in the Shoo-King, Tung-ping, the Eastern Plain, 
and hence called Tung-ping-chow. ‘The city is famous 
in history. After the murder of the emperor Seang, 5th 
of the Hea dynasty, the Bamboo Books tell us that his 
empress Min fled to Yew-jing, the old name for this place ; 
it would also appear as if this were the birthplace of Shau- 
K’ang, the succeeding emperor. Again, in this neighbor- 
hood was fought the great battle which put an end to the 
Hea dynasty, and introduced the dynasty of Shang. His- 
tory informs us that several times the inhabitants of this 
district have been driven from their homes by inunda- 
tions of the Yellow River. One flood, more disastrous 
in its effects than the others on record, occurred a.D. 
1344. 

Continuing towards Yen-chow-fu, we crossed the classic 
river the Wén-ho ; it was broad, full of water, and well 
supplied with ferry-boats. All Chinese scholars know of 
this stream ; it is one of the rivers mentioned in the tribute 


373 RECENT VISIT TO THE 


of Yu, as that by which the produce of the north country 
was conveyed to the river Tsi, and thence to the capital. 
It is also mentioned in the Lun-yii, where Min-tse-K’een, 
not wishing to serve the K’e family, says, “ Decline for 
me the honor positively. If any one come again to me 
with a second invitation, I shall go and live on the banks 
of the Wén.” . 

Having crossed the river, we reached the city of Wen- 
shang-hien ; the gates were closed through dread of the 
rebels, and we had some difficulty in obtaining admis- 
sion. We remained but a short time, and drove on for 
Yen-chow-fu, which we reached the same afternoon. Our 
attention was arrested by a fine grove of tall cypress trees, 
with a tall grave in front. We found that it was the burial — 
place of Hwuy, of Lew-new, mentioned in the books of 
Confucius and Mencius ; he was an officer of the king- 
dom of Loo, was a man of virtue and talents, and holds 
a conspicuous place in the present day amongst the writ- 
ers of China. 

Soon the pagoda and walls of Yen-chow-fu came in 
sight: I was now approaching the district rendered 
classic as being the birthplace of the two great sages of 
China, and the scene of many of the more important 
events in their lives. The city takes its name from one 
of the nine divisions of China, into which, we are in- 
formed, the Supreme Ruler in a vision told Yu to divide 
the empire. It stands in the center of the old kingdom, 
or dukedom, called Loo, so often referred to in the Class- 
ics. ‘This is certified, among other things, by an inscrip- 
tion of four large characters over the top of the west 
gate, telling us that to the west lay Chau and Wei, and 
we knew that Loo lay to the east of these places. The 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CIINA. 379 


father of Confucius is said, on a tablet in the temple of 
his son, to have ruled over this place in his time. The 
city lies on the river called the Sze-shui, of which I shall 
' again have occasion to speak ; it does not appear to be 
very rich, and bears a strong resemblance to Tung- 
chang-fu. 

Having passed the night here, we started for Tsiu-hi- 
en, the city of Mencius, which lies s.z. 50 4% from this 
place. On our way we passed the grave of Tan-tai-mee- 
ming, who “never took a short cut in walking, and never 
came to his superior’s office except on business,” and 
also of Li-joh-sz, a man famous in the Ming dynasty ; in- 
deed, almost every tablet on the roadside had a history, 
and much could be written about them. 

As we approached Tsiu, or Tsow-hien, we were struck 
with the beauty of the place. Lying at the foot of the 
range of hills, its sombre walls and sentinel-like pagoda 
stood out prominently, while the hills formed an enchant- 
ing back-ground to the picture. These hills have a his- 
tory. That high peak toward the southeast is the “Yih” 
mountain, or “ E” mountain, spoken of in the tribute of 
Yu, as the place where grew that solitary dryandra, the 
wood of which formed part of the articles conveyed to 
the emperor, and which was used for making lutes. The 
mountain is famous at the present time for its supposed 
natural curiosities: here is a famous stone drum, another 
rock in the shape of a great bell, and yet another of oc- 
tagonal shape on which can be seen the eight diagrams. 
While here, we proceeded to visit the temple of Mencius, 
no small pleasure to us ; the temple stands to the south 
of the city, outside the south gate. It consists of a series 
of buildings, facing the south, and inclosed by a high, 


380 RECENT VISIT TO THE 


oblong wall; the interior is full of cypress trees. The 
gate-keeper, a very obliging man, admitted us, and took 
us over the entire place. It is of the same character as 
ordinary Confucian temples, only on a far grander scale. 
One of the first things that struck us was a huge tablet, 
erected by Kang-hi in honor of the sage ; it stands on a 
monster tortoise twelve feet long, by six feet broad, and 
four feet high: the tablet itself is at least twenty feet high, 
six feet wide, and twenty inches thick ; tablet and tor- 
toise consist of one slab each, and the marble is beauti- 
ful and finely cut. Passing through a central gate, and 
going up an avenue of cypress, we had tablets on each 
hand, all in honor of Mencius. The Han, Sung, and 
almost every dynasty is represented. The Yuen had 
one with Mongolian characters ; Kien-lung had his faé- 
Jow or tablet in a pretty little temple or summer house. 
Our attention was drawn to a well, evidently believed to 
be a great wonder by the people; it was said to have 
been made by the entrance of a thunderbolt. We were 
then shown some interesting engravings on marble tab- 
lets, illustrating the genealogy of Mencius, and incidents 
in his life. On the upper two were his mother and himself; 
underneath, his great-grandfather ; below, his twenty-four 
discipies ; yet below, drawings of the city and place ; his 
grave on the hill, his father, etc. 

The main building was two-storied, the tiles were yel- 
low and green ; the upper verandah stood upon eight 
beautiful marble pillars, each in one piece, on which were 
fine ornamental engravings. Going up the slips which 
lead to the main temple, we passed between the pillars, 
and thus entered the great building ; right in front of 


a? 
us was a large statue of Mencius himself; it stood on a 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. 301 


raised piatform, and was inclosed in a gorgeous shrine. 
This deeply interested us, as it was said to be a good 
likeness ; 21d in fact it entirely realized our expectations 
of the mar, judging from his books. He was of a mid- 
dle stature, stout, and had a ready-for-anything sort of 
appearzace, a round full face, sanguine countenance, 
bright eyes, thin, closed lips, and a large, flattish nose. 
Ihe whole thing gave us the idea of a man thoughtful, 
resolute, out-spoken, and one that had experienced disap- 
pointment and sorrow. In another place there was also 
his likeness, graven on marble, with the same features, 
and on the east side a small temple, with yet another 
image of him, when he was a very old man, where the 
same features were strikingly portrayed, only marked 
and withered with age. On the left hand of Mencius in 
the main temple, also in a shrine, was an image of his 
favorite disciple, Yo-ching-tsze ; his countenance is full- 
faced, but more sleepy than that of his master. Before 
the sage, and also in front of the disciple, are frames on 
which sacrifices are offered, at the proper seasons, on the 
second and eighth months ; and also huge incense pots. 
The verandah, behind the temple, was likewise supported 
by eight plain marble pillars, and the side verandahs by 
five pillars each. 

Behind the main temple was a temple to the father of 
Mencius, in which was no image, but only a tablet hav- 
ing this inscription: “The spirits’ resting place.” On 
the east, there was another small temple in honor of his 
great-grandfather. 

Having surveyed minutely the whole place, and found 
that the duke and representative of the family was at 
home, we resolved to call upon him. — His residence is 


392 RECENT VISIT TO THE 


on the west side of the street, leading to the south gate, 
the Temple being on the east side opposite. 

Having arrived I sent in my cards, one English and 
one Chinese, and was most politely received ; my teacher 
and myself were invited into a side room, and had tea 
presented to us. After a little we were called into the 
chief court, and there had a short audience with the 
duke. He was a man of about sixty-five years of age. 
His resemblance to the statue of Mencius struck us at 
once: the same short, stout, active frame, frank open 
demeanor, and out-spoken impulsive character. I felt 
deeply interested in him and his family. He was the 
head of the seventieth generation from Mencius. 

The Emperor Shin-tsung, in A.D. 1083, issued an order 
constituting Mencius the “ Duke of Tsow,” and also or- 
dering this temple to be built. One of his descendants 
called He-wan, of the fifty-sixth generation, was made 
by Kea-tsing, A.D. 1522-66, a member of the Han-lin 
college, and of the Board in charge of the “ Five-King ;” 
this honor was to be hereditary in his family, and the 
holder of it to preside at the sacrifices to his ancestor. 
I believe this office is still continued. We know that the 
head of the clan receives a large pension from the gov- 
ernment. 

Leaving this spot we entered the South Gate ; on the 
east side we found a large tablet in honor of the mother 
of Mencius, with an engraving on the marble, illustrat- 
ing that famous story of his mother cutting through the 
web, which she was weaving, to point out to him the evil 
of his neglect of study ; this was on the back of the tab- 
let, and on the front was an inscription saying that she 
lived on this spot. A little to the south of this we found 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. 38 3 


another tablet, telling us that Tze-tse, the grandson of 
Confucius, dwelt here, and on this spot composed the 
classic of the Chung-yung, translated as the “Golden 
Mean,” or the “ Doctrine of the Mean,” by different sin- 
ologues. 

‘Having spent some hours within the city, which ap- 
peared, comparatively, a poor one, we made for the burial 
place of the family of Mencius. Their graves were 
placed on several hills about twenty 77 from the city, cov- 
ered with forests of oak and cypress, and bushes of all 
kinds. 

Arriving at the first hill we obtained a guide, who 
quickly took us to the tomb of the mother of Mencius. 
who still occupies a most important place in the estima- 
tion of the people. Wending our way through the pleas- 
ant woods, we were quite interested to find such a multi- 
tude of grave stones, with their inscriptions ; the name 
and generation of the person were always given ; and 
thus one could form a history of the clan from their 
tombs. Here was a family of the sixtieth generation, 
another of the forty-first, another of the fifteenth, and 
some down as far as the eighth or ninth. Time was too 
short to make out a complete list. At last we came to 
the tomb of his mother. I must say I was disappointed 
with the appearance: students of Mencius will recollect 
that the sage brought the body of his mother from the 
kingdom of Tse, and gave her such a splendid funeral 
that his disciples blamed him for the expense. But the 
tomb did not bear evidence of this. It is merely a great 
mound, yet not very great, on which were growing bushes 
and grass. In front of it were three tablets, one in honor 
of his mother, and side ones explaining, amongst other 


384 RECENT VISIT TO THE 


things, that she had not resided in this district, but at 
Tsow-hien, outside the south gate, and that this was 
_ merely the spot where her body lay. Before the three 
tablets stood a huge stone table, and a font cut out of 
stone for the sacrifices,—a sheep, pig, etc., which were 
offered twice a year; ata little distance was the small 
temple where the officers rest and. prepare themselves 
for the service. 

On inquiry we found that we were fifteen 77 from the 
tomb of the sage himself ; and discovering that it was 
simply a repetition of his mother’s, a mound and tablets, 
and nothing more important, we refrained from visiting 
it, especially as it would have thrown us so late. And 
so adieu, Mencius ! 

We now pushed on to Kio-feu-hien, the city of Confu- 
cius, which we reached about 2:30 P.M. This city is 
much better and busier than that of Mencius. It is peo- 
pled chiefly by the descendants of the Great Sage,— 
eight families out of ten bearing his surname. It has 
two south gates, the one on the west side being unused, 
and opened only on the visit of an emperor. This gate 
is in front of the temple of Confucius, and leads directly 
to it. The temple occupied a large portion of the west- 
ern part of the city, the chief part of it standing on the 
place where Confucius lived. Its arrangement resem- 
bles that usually adopted in buildings of a similar class 
in China, but on a grander and more superb scale. Take 
it all in all, I have seen nothing like it in other parts of 
China. The inclosure is oblong ; the building is thirteen 
halls deep. One square is shut off from another by grand 
gates. There are also two bridges crossed by a grand 
avenue leading from the magnificent south gate, through 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. 385 


the inner gates, and on to the main temple. The squares 
are full of tall old cypress trees, and the sides of the ave- 
nue are crowded with tablets in honor of the sage ; every 
dynasty is here represented, and many of the tablets were 
thus extremely important. Early in the morning we set 
out to view this place ; a small fee soon opened the door, 
and we found the keeper obliging. The temple is divided 
in two parts by a thoroughfare for the convenience of the 
citizens to avoid a long circuit, the chief objects of inter- 
est lying on the north side. To this we went, and from 
the first moment we stepped in to the last, my whole mind 
was engaged by objects of interest ; here on the left hand 
was a cypress, said to have been planted by Confucius 
himself, and its gnarled and aged trunk bore evidence of 
its great age ; here we were shown the place where he 
taught his disciples, now a huge pavilion open to the 
south ; in it was fixed, in his praise, a poem composed 
by Kien-lung, engraved on a marble tablet. Now ap- 
peared the Grand Temple, a high building, for China, 
and a most spacious one: it was two-storied, the upper 
verandah on gorgeous marble pillars ; these pillars were . 
at least twenty-two feet high, and about two feet in diam- 
eter ; around them, carved in the solid stone, twined two 
large dragons ; the marble itself was richly veined. The 
tiles of the roof were of yellow porcelain, as in Peking, 
and the ornamentation of the eaves was all covered with 
wire work, to preserve it from the birds. 

Within this building was the image or statue of Con- 
fucius, like that of Mencius, only in far richer style ; he 
sat in a gorgeously curtained shrine holding a roll in his 
hand, or rather, a slip of bamboo, as it was this material 
that was used for writing in his days. The sitting 


17 


386 RECENT VISIT TO THE 


statue was about eighteen feet by six feet, the image was 
well done and life-like ; he is represented as a strong, 
well-built man, with a full red face and large head, a lit- 
tle heavy; he sits in the attitude of contemplation, his 
eyes looking upwards. He has amuch more serious, 
thoughtful aspect than Mencius, but not that straight- 
forward, dogged air, which the latter bore ; his front teeth 
were exposed, his nose thick and round ; on the tablet 
was the simple inscription: “The most Holy prescient 
sage Confucius—his spirit’s resting place.” 

On the east were images of his favorite disciples ranged 
in order, in the estimation in which he was said to have 
held them ; that of Mencius occupied the west side of 
the building. The roof was crowded with tablets in hon- 
or of the sage, varying with one another in extravagant 
praise ; before his image, and also in front of these, were 
beautiful incense pots ; amongst them several most inter- 
esting relics ; here was a clay dish said to be of Yaou’s 
time (B.C. 2300); also two bronze censers, one with a 
lid bearing the date of the Shang dynasty, (B.c.1700- 
1500) the work on which was superb. Two bronze ele- 
phants, dating from the Chow dynasty, stood by, and a 
large table of the same age made of beautiful, hard, dark 
red-wood,—these things spoke volumes for the state of 
the nation in those far back ages—the moulding and carv- 
ing were most exquisite. 

Behind this hall stands a temple in honor of the wife 
of Confucius. In it was a tablet, but no image. In the 
second temple, yet further back, are four tablets, erected 
by Kang-hi; bearing éach one of the characters: which to- 
gether mean, “The Teacher of Ten Thousand Ages.” Here 
also were three engraved figures of the sage on marble ; 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. 387 


one an old man, full length, rather dim, having no date; 
the second, smaller, with seal characters on the side ; the 
third, and best, giving only his head and shoulders. These 
varied, somewhat, but were substantially alike ; all of 
them gave the mouth, or lips, open, the front teeth 
exposed, and the eyes full and contemplative. Imme- 
diately behind these were incised drawings on marble, 
illustrating all the chief incidents in his life, with appro- 
priate explanations at the side; there were altogether 
one hundred and twenty slabs which were built into the 
back wall ; the greater part of them were in good preser- 
vation, and were extremely interesting, the more so as 
they gave us an insight into the dress, kind of furniture, 
carriages and houses of those ancient times. To the 
west of this are two temples ; that in front, in honor of 
the father of the sage, who is said to have governed Yen- 
chow-fu and Tsow-hien; the other, in honor of his mother. 
They are plain temples, and have no images, only a tab- 
let each. On the east are also temples to his five ances- 
tors ; here towards the east, was a large block of marble, 
on which was engraven a genealogical tree, giving all the 
branches of his family; here also a well from which the 
sage drank. I got the man to let down a bucket, and 
tasted the water, which was excellent, though a little 
sweetish. On this side also was another building which 
he is said to have used as his school. 

The southern division is less interesting than the 
northern. It contains nothing but what I have already 
named: tablets innumerable, cypress trees, gates, walls 
and bridges ; there are three gardens, four gates, and two 
bridges. Here in ancient time is said to have stood that 
“Spirit Tower ” alluded to in the Shoo-King. 


388 ' RECENT VISIT TO THE : 


The duke Kung, the present head of the family, lives 
in a mansion adjoining the temple, on the west ; within 
its area was the house in the walls of which were found 
the classics, hidden for fear of that destroyer of litera- 
ture, and learned men, the Emperor Tsin, B.c. 212. 

The object of our visit to Kio-fou-hien being com- 
pleted, we set off for the tomb of Confucius. It lies to 
the north of the city at a distance of about a mile ; a fine 
avenue of old cypress trees leads direct from the north 
gate to the burial ground; this avenue is crossed by 
several arches, some of which are of much interest ; 
approaching the burial ground we saw a forest of oak, 
cypress, and many other varieties of trees, inclosed by a 
high wall, within which we learned was the grave. Hay- 
ing entered we passed through a grand gateway, and 
diverged by an irregular. path to the west ; in a few min- 
utes we came to a second avenue, not very long, but 
more interesting than the first ; passing along this, at the ~ 
sides were lions and other creatures carved in stone, and 
overhead the unfailing cypress. We shortly came toa 
house where the sacrifices to the sage were prepared; a 
little farther we were shown a tree, planted, it was said, 
by Tze-kung, one of his disciples, and here also a taste- 
ful pavilion erected by Kien-lung the Emperor ; moving 
onwards we passed the tomb of Tsi-sze, the grandson of 
Confucius, the author of the Chung-yung, and whom a 
tradition relates to have been the preceptor of Mencius. 
Peace to his ashes! justly does he bear the title, “ Phi- 
losopher Tsi-sze, transmitter of the Sage.” | 

Advancing, we passed two sages in stone, larger than 
life, facing one another, and holding in their hands bam- 
boo scrolls. We were now at the tomb, a high mound 


" CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CHINA. 389 


like a little hill overgrown with trees and shrubs, and, in 
front of it, the usual font and tables for sacrifices. Be- 
side it stood a huge tablet, on which were engraven in 
seal characters, the name and doings of Confucius ; it 
was twenty-five feet high by six feet broad. On the west 
of the tomb -was the place where Tze-kung sat and 
watched over his master’s grave, and mourned for him ; 
it was originally a mere hut of reeds, but now a pretty 
little house has been erected on the spot in memory of 
his self-denial. He is preéminently respected by the 
Chinese, inasmuch as while many of the disciples built 
huts around the grave, and dwelt there for three years, 
he alone remained three additional years, sorrowing for 
his master. On the west of the tomb of the sage we 
have that of his son, Le, the father of Tsi-ze, and all 
around the graves of the representatives of the clan, 
among whom are not a few most worthy men. ‘Towards 
the east are the graves of less important descendants, 
and, as on the burial grounds of the family of Mencius, 
we found the grave-stones all marked in generations 
from the sage. 

In the same direction, a few li outside the city gate, 
lies the temple of the “ DuKE or Cuow,” the great ideal 
statesman whom Confucius so constantly held up for 
imitation. We approached the spot with no little in- 
terest, knowing that here we should see his statue, a re- 
puted likeness. ‘The building stands in a large inclosure 
full of old cypress trees. On the left and right of the 
avenues by which we approached are tablets erected to 
his honor by almost every dynaSty: here is one so far 
back as the Tang, another by the Yuen, and so on to the 
present day. One more conspicuous than its fellows 


390 RECENT VISIT TO THE 


proved to have been erected by Kang-hi, in his tweaty- 
sixth year. 

A little to the east of the temple of duke Chow, some 
five li from Kio-fou, lies the temple of the ancient em- 
peror SHaou-Haou. It is contained within an oblong 
inclosure surrounded by a high wall. Entering by the 
south, we passed up a long avenue of old cypress trees, 
then through another gate into a garden ; at the north of 
this garden stands a temple in which there were no im- 
ages, but only a place for a tablet of the deceased—the 
tablet, we were told, was in the city being repaired. In 
front were two tables, erected by Kien-lung in honor of 
this emperor, and behind the place for the tablet were 
red boards on which dragons were profusely painted. But 
the most interesting object lay behind this building. 
Here was the tomb itself; it was a pyramid built of 
large blocks of granite compactly placed together ; on 
the top was a small house, made with turned-up eaves, 
in the present Chinese fashion, and covered with porce- 
lain brick. An old tree grew out of the middle of the 
pyramid, and gave the whole thing a most venerable ap- 
pearance. The pyramid was not at all to be compared 
to the Egyptian ones for size, but of the same shape, and 
instantly reminded one of them. Anywhere but in China 
would we look for such structures. But this is. another 
indication of the antiquity of the Chinese, and the one- 
ness of the human race. 

Within the city is also a temple in honor of Yén- | 
hwuy, or Tze-yuen, the favorite disciple of Confucius, 
who was for some time inconsolable at his early death ; 
on this account, and not for anything Yén-hwuy has done 
or said, the Chinese have conceived an extraordinary 


CLASSIC GROUNDS OF CIIINA. gor 


esteem for him. His temple, which stands inside, is 
grander than that of Mencius, and his tomb, which, like 
his master’s, lies in a beautiful forest, is held sacred to 
this day. 

Satiated with sight-seeing, we now turned our faces 
toward Sz-shui-hien, and hastened our steps as the after- 
noon was far advanced, and we had fifteen miles before 
us ; and yet we could not hurry, the whole district was so 
full of interest. There on the southeast of us was the 
Ne-kew hill, or the Ne hill, to which Ching-tsai, the 
mother of Confucius, went to pray for a son. 

North of us are the hills among which stands one of 
the five sacred mountains of China, and the chief of them, 
viz: the Tai-shan, or Tai hill. ‘There Shun offered sac- 
rifices first on his great journey to survey his kingdom. 
The sacrifice was offered in the sacred month of the 
year, about B.c. 2272. 

The river on whose banks our road partly lay, and on 
which we were impinging every now and then, was also 
historical ; it is the Sz-shui river spoken of in the Tribute 
of Yu, B.c. 2210, famous for its sounding stones, which 
formed part of the taxes. 

Arriving at Sz-shui-hien after nightfall, we had some 
difficulty in obtaining an entrance, but noticing no ob- 
ject of interest, we proceeded early on our way. On 
our route we visited the temple of Tse-loo, another of the 
disciples of Confucius; his statue interested us. His 
temple is now out of repair, but his memory is still fresh 
and fragrant. 

This city, Sz-shui-hien, stands at the limit of the level 
country. Leaving it, the ground begins to ascend, and 
becomes gradually more and more rugged. We passed 


392 RECENT VISIT 


several villages, and reached Woo-tai just after thé sun 
had gone down; spending the night here amidst discom- 
forts, we in the morning set off for the city of Hung-yin- 
hien. 

Passing on, we came in sight of another historical ob- 
ject, the eastern Mung hill, which is mentioned as having 
been brought under cultivation after the waters had been 
carried off by Yu, and on which, in ancient times, sacri- 
fices had been offered, as we infer from the remarks of 
Confucius in the Lun-Yu. It is also famous as having, 
in modern times, called forth the poetical genius of Kien- 
lung, who composed a piece of poetry in view of its snow- 
clad summit, on one of his journeys to the southern parts 
of his kingdom. Not far from this hill is another called 
Yu, where Shun kept Kwan, the father of the great engi- 
neer, till he died. It was also from the valleys in the 
neighborhood that the famous variegated pheasants’ 
feathers came, which are also mentioned in that sort of. 
dooms-day book, and which were, even in those times, 
used for military decorations. 

On the succeeding days our party passed through the 
Hien city of Wei, the country undulating and gravelly. 
Advancing, we came in sight of the Lai-chow hills, where 
lived the wild tribes, whom Yu instructed in the art of 
tillage and pasturage, nor does his teaching seem to have 
been ineffectual. 

We next set out for Hwang-hien, which we reached in 
two days ; we were entering that district called in old 
times Yu-e, the place to which the emperor Yaou is sup- 
posed, with justice, to have sent the astronomer “ He,” 
B.C. 2300, to observe the rising sun. From Hwang a 
short journey took us to Che-foo, the termination of our 
long trip. 


REMARKS ON THE DOCTRINES OF THE SAGES. 393 


EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


REMARKS ON THE DOCTRINES TAUGHT BY THE CHINESE 
SAGES, AND THE INFLUENCE WHICH THOSE DOCTRINES 
HAVE EXERTED ON THE CHINESE MIND. 


When people have been engaged in reading a book in 
concert, it is pleasant to sit down together and converse 
about it. We have been reading a synopsis of the Four 

* “Books, with a sketch of the lives of their authors and 
compilers, together with a variety of specimens of more 
modern Chinese literature. We also have access to books 
which portray the character and condition of the inhabi- 
tants of China at the present day ; and now, perhaps, we 
are prepared to make a few reflections concerning the 
character of the sages, the nature of their doctrines, and 
the influence which these doctrines have exerted on the 
people of China. 

We may remark, first, upon their Proverbs and Moral 
Maxims. The reader, as well as ourselves, has been 
struck with them. How much like Scripture some of 
them are! but generally we notice that they fall short of 
the high standard of morality which we find in the Bible. 
In several places we find that which at first sight may 

17* 


39-4 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


seem to read almost like the precept, “love thy neigh- 
bor as thyself,” but nowhere do we find the command- 
ment, “love the Lord thy God with all thy heart.” 


NOTIONS RESPECTING A DEITY. 


In regard to this we may say, in the first place, that 
they had no knowledge—at least, no clear knowledge of 
that God who is a being worthy to be loved with all the 
heart, soul, mind and strength. When they referred to 
heaven as the power which decrees, rewards and punish- 
es, we are uncertain as to the nature of their conceptions 
respecting that power. Undoubtedly the knowledge of 
the true God was possessed by those who first migrated 
from the plains of Shinar to that country which was to 
become the land of Sinim ; but by.the lapse of time that 
knowledge faded out, till down to the times of Confucius 
and Mencius there remained no clear conception of an 
intelligent, personal, all-powerful deity, ordering and con- 
trolling the affairs of the universe. From what we read in 
their works about the Tai Kik, and the Dual Principles 
which first produced the different formations, and the va- 
rious beings in the universe, and which, as all Chinese at 
present believe, still pervade all things, we are forced to 
conclude that the wise men of Confucius’ time were in 
their theology but little, if anything better than pantheists ; 
although they did believe in the existence of many spir- 
its who might be almost ubiquitous, and who presided 
over their several departments: they believed also that 
the spirits of the dead still hovered around the places of 
their former residences ; that they were capable of receiv- 
ing pleasure or pain from what they observed in the 


NOTIONS RESPECTING A DEITY. 395 


actions of men; that they were pleased with the proper 
offerings rendered to them, and displeased at the neglect 
of such service ; and they believed that these departed 
spirits were able in some way to help or to injure people 
on the earth ; and therefore prayers were offered to them, 
and offerings made in order to propitiate them. 


THE FIRST AND GREAT COMMANDMENT NOT FOUND IN 
THE CHINESE CLASSICS. 


As we remarked above, we do not find amongst the 
precepts of the sages anything like that first and great 
commandment of the Bible which reads, “thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart ;” and how could 
there be? We can love a personal deity that possesses 
attributes worthy of love; but there is nothing in the 
idea of an all-pervading generating principle which awak- 
ens in the breast emotions of love or adoration. Men 
may have some vague conception of an agency residing 
somewhere in the heavens above us, in the earth beneath 
us, or in the depths of the ocean, which has power to 
punish wickedness and reward virtue ; power to benefit or 
to afflict men, by changes which they are able to produce 
in the elements of nature ; but that would not be a God 
whom men can love. The Chinese religion therefore 
lacked the main element—the principal root from which 
all true morality must spring ; for where there is not in 
the mind the knowledge of a God who is a being of infi- 
nite power, wisdom, justice, goodness, and truth ; loving 
holiness and hating iniquity ; and in the heart a feeling 
of admiration for his excellencies, with a dread of his 
wrath, as well as a desire for his approval and favor, we 


396 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


will look in vain for that universal or general brother- 
hood which is exhibited in a love for others even as we 
love ourselves. 

But love, moreover, being one of the fruits of the Spir- 
it, we will not be disappointed if we fail to find the fruit 
from soil in which the seed has not been sown. 


* 


RECIPROCITY. 


We have said that we find in the writings of the sages 
that which reminds us somewhat of the precept, Love thy 
neighbor as thyself; and yet we have not found quite 
that. We have the golden rule several times stated in 
its negative form, “do not to others what you would not 
have others do to you,” and rarely the positive form, “do 
to others as you would that others should do to you ;” 
and to this, people may be exhorted by appealing merely 
to selfish considerations. 


RETRIBUTION IN THE PRESENT LIFE. 


We have observed in the readings before us that the 
sanctions of law, and the rewards and punishments for 
good and bad conduct, nearly all have reference to the 
present life. In one of their books, “The Mirror of 
the Mind,” we have the formula, “Good has its good re- 
ward ; evil has its evil recompense: if as yet there is no 
recompense, then the time for it has not arrived. Good 
and evil surely will have their respective rewards : fly 
high or run far it will be difficult to escape them.” But 
this reward or punishment was supposed to be such as 
might be expected in this life ; what they considered as 


RETRIBUTION IN THE PRESENT LIFE. 397 


comprehended in the general terms “good fortune,” or 
- “evil fortune.” The “ Five Happinesses,” which ‘are so 
often seen inscribed on five separate slips of red or gilt 
paper, and fluttering over the doors of Chinese houses, 
are, Long Life, Riches, Health, Virtue, and a Natural 
Death. 

There is, as we see, nothing here which reaches be- 
yond the present life. 

This statement, we are aware, will surprise those who 
remember what they have read in the Budhist Tract 
amongst the “selections ;” it may also surprise some 
who call to mind what they have witnessed in the tem- 
ples of the Budhist sect in China. There they have seen 
representations in clay, or upon paper, of all manner of 
torments which the imagination can invent, such as are 
supposed to be suffered by the souls of the departed who 
have failed of entering the happy land of Budha. To 
relieve the reader’s mind of this difficulty we have only 
to remind him that we have been speaking only of the 
theological views of the sages, and the religious doctrines 
taught in the Four Books, so far as religion is taught in 
them at all. Purgatory, transmigration, accumulation of 
merit, prayers and sacrifices to deliver souls from purga- 
tory, fasting, penances, pilgrimages, celibacy, asceticism, 
all were originally peculiar to the Budhist sect ; though 
at present the people almost universally believe in these 
doctrines, and practice according to them. 

The Budhist religion was not introduced into China 
till after the middle of the first century of the Christian 
era. 


398 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


ALL MEN ARE BRETHREN. 


The sages taught that all between the four seas are 
brethren ; Chinese teachers and essayists of all ages 
down to the present time have been reiterating the same ; 
but no amount of exhortation has had the effect to make 
them live together and love each other altogether as 
brethren of one family ought to love. China has seldom 
been free from strifes and wars of greater or less magni- 
tude in one part of the kingdom or another ; while the 
policy of the Chinese government, and the conduct of 
many of the Chinese people towards those who were 
termed ‘outside barbarians,” is an evidence that they 
did not consider the term “all within the four seas” as 
comprehending any outside of the Chinese empire. _ 

But while China should be condemned for its exclu- 
siveness, and its unbrotherly treatment of foreigners, it 
must be conceded that there is very much to be com- 
mended -in the treatment, and in the respect which Chi- 
namen extend toward each other. 

While remarking on this subject, we may notice that 
the books they read, their rules for ceremonies and eti- 
quette, all the prescribed forms for teaching in the family 
and the school, inculcate a style of address the most re- 
spectful. Persons older than one’s self are to be ad- 
dressed as “elder brothers,” and those younger as 
“younger brothers ;” the aged as “venerable sir,” “sen- 
ior born ;” favors are humbly and respectfully solicited ; 
and when received are thankfully acknowledged. As to 
acts of benevolence, mutual aid, care for the sick, infirm 
and aged, or assistance provided for the poor, we may 


THE COMMANDMENT WITH PROMISE. 399 


safely say that in these things the Chinese far excel all 
other people of whom we have had knowledge who have 
not partaken of the spirit of Him who so loved the world 
as to die for it. And here we may remark that nothing 
is more common in the experience of the missionary 
amongst the Chinese than to hear those of that people to 
whom he is reading or repeating portions of the proverbs 
and of the Sermon on the Mount applauding the same: 
they will say ; “How true! How good! How like what 
Confucius taught !” 

In the frequent giving of presents, the making of 
feasts, the gatherings for social intercourse, the abundant 
epistolary correspondence between relatives and friends, 
we have additional evidence that the friendly and frater- 
nal feelings are carefully fostered amongst them. 


THE COMMANDMENT WITH PROMISE. 


The respect which in China is accorded to age, and 
the honor given to gray hairs, are not equaled in any other 
country ; and in this they have better remembered and 
more carefully observed the precepts of their great teacher 
than even those who daily read that Book which says, 
“Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor 
the face of the old man.” Whatever judgments may 
come upon Chinamen for other sins, the instances must 
be very few in which that punishment will be executed 
which is threatened against him who “mocketh at his 
father, and despiseth to obey his mother.” 

A peculiarly striking feature of the teachings of Con- 
fucius is the prominence given to the filial and fraternal 
duties ; and could Confucius revisit the sceres of his 


400 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


earthly labors, where he so often lamented that his prin- » 
ciples were not followed ; could he pass around amongst 
the hundreds of millions of his “ black-haired people,” 
he would find them everywhere and universally regard- 
ing his instructions ; having exceeded, rather than fallen 
short, in the keeping of those precepts, either in their 
letter or spirit. 

None of those in whose hearing the Fifth Command- 
ment is repeated every Sabbath day keep it more per- 
fectly than do the Chinese people. This fifth precept of 
the Decalogue is a “commandment with promise,”—a 
promise “that thy days may be long in the land which 
the Lord thy God giveth thee.” No other people have 
kept this Commandment so well as the Chinese, and to 
no other people has God for so long a time given a home, 
with comparative peace and prosperity, as he has given 
to those who, for four thousand years have occupied the 
country which he first meted out to them. 

Whether there has been any such connection as this 
reference to the Fifth Commandment naturally suggests 
between the honor which the Chinese render to parents 
and seniors, and the long enjoyment of the land which 
God has given them, the reader can judge as well as we. 


PARENTS HONORED TOO MUCH. 


While the Chinese, in the matter of honoring parents, 
have not sinned on the side of deficiency, they have griev- 
ously sinned on the side of excess. ‘They have gone so 
far as to render to parents and ancestors religious ser- 
vice ; and surely for this they must incur the displeasure 


SPIRITUALISM. - 4ol 


of that being who forbids the having any other gods be- 
fore Him. 

The ancestral rites are something more than ceremo- 
nies to keep alive the memory of the dead ; they are the 
ceremonies and services by which they attempt to “honor 
and to assist the dead as if they were still alive.” Food, 
clothing, money, (or representations of these things) are 
offered to the dead. Music, theatrical exhibitions and 
other entertainments are provided for them, with the be- 
lief that the spirits of the dead, still lingering around the 
scenes of their former earthly residences, are delighted 
with the same amusements, and supported by the same 
aliment, as when they were in the body. This, however, 
is a fault, chargeable to ignorance and folly, in which 
Confucius and those who read the instructions of Con- . 
fucius are not alone. 


SPIRITUALISM, 


Had the Chinese stopped at this point, viz: the feed- 
ing, clothing, and otherwise entertaining the spirits of the 
dead, their folly and crime would have been less than it 
is5 for now they worship them and pray to them, either 
imploring them directly to aid the children and descend- 
ants who are still here in this world of toil and trouble ; 
or else begging them to intercede with the gods and spir- 
its who have power to confer blessings or avert calami- 
ties in the several departments over which they preside. 

The thorough belief of these doctrines, traceable to 
the instructions of Confucius, has led to the peopling of 
air and earth with innumerable disembodied spirits : and 
as the poor, and those without male descendants that 


4c2 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


might have perpetuated the name and rendered the ac- 
customed worship to the manes of the dead, have souls 
as well as the rich, therefore the people still living have 
all those past generations of departed souls to provide 
for ; if they please the spirits, the spirits may aid them 
in return; if they fail to feed and clothe them, those spir- 
its may bring sickness into the house and blight upon their 
fields, or in a thousand other ways afflict them. Thus it 
is that the Chinese are all their lifetime subject to a bond- 
age to those spirits: and yet, the Chinese are not alone 
in being Spiritualists. 


BOOK OF RITES DEFICIENT.—DUTIES TO WIVES, SISTERS 
AND DAUGHTERS, LEFT OUT. 


The reader, like ourselves, has not failed to notice 
that while there is much repetition and great emphasis 
employed in explaining and enforcing the duties of chil- 
dren to parents, of brothers toward brothers, of inferiors 
toward superiors, and the mutual relations of neighbors 
and friends, there is a painful lack of all reference to the 
duties of brothers towards sisters. Women are clearly 
enough told how to please and serve their husbands and 
their husbands’ parents, but we fail to find in the teach- 
ings of the Four Books exhortations to husbands to love 
their wives. ‘The whole tenor of the Chinese literature 
is to indicate woman’s place and welfare as being of far 
less importance than that of the man: her office is 
merely to minister to the comfort and gratification of 
the man. 

Very few of the Chinese women are taught to read: 
hundreds of thousands serve in the family both as ser- 


THE BOOK OF RITES DEFICIENT. 403 


vants and concubines ; and girls betrothed, in a large 
proportion of cases, are early taken home to the house 
of their future father-in-law to be for years before mar- 
riage, and ever afterward, while the mother-in-law shall 
live, obliged to do the bidding and to be subject to the 
whims of the mother of the person to whom they have 
been espoused. 

There is always great rejoicing at the birth of a 
son ; it is considered very impolite to congratulate a 
father on the birth of a daughter. Girls, when married, 
go out of their own father’s house emphatically, and are 
no longer regarded as members of it, or expected to par- 
- ticipate in its pleasures or sorrows. 

We see, therefore, what a need there is in China for 
that Book whose influence has procured for women in 
Christian lands that place which they enjoy as man’s 
companion and comfort, his helpmeet and his equal par- 
ticipant in all the privileges which fill the present with 
usefulness and pleasure, and which reveals a future of 
infinite blessedness. 

There is, however, a remarkable exception to the gen- 
eral rule, which we observe in the obedience and respect 
which children are required to render to the mother of 
the family. And here the distinction between the proper 
wife and the concubines must not be overlooked. The 
one proper wife is mistress over the concubines, and all 
the children of the family call this one person mother, 
and yield obedience to her as such. 

As throughout China there is universally great rever- 
ence for age, so the older women seem to be more hon- 
ored ; while the aged mothers and grandmothers, next to 
fathers and grandfathers, are reverenced by their chil- 


404 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


dren and grandchildren. Living grandparents are even 
bowed down to, on particular occasions, with the same 
forms as when the deceased ancestors are worshiped. 


RULERS HONORED, 


We have spoken of a Chinaman’s reverence for pa- 
rents and respect for superiors: their regard for rulers 
and all in authority is as marked, in its way, as this re- 
gard for parents ; indeed, it was a prime element in the 
doctrines of Confucius and Mencius, that the emperor is 
the parent of the people, and as the head of the family 
must receive the respect and obedience of the household, 
so must the emperor be honored and obeyed by all his 
subjects; likewise his ministers and subordinate officers 
should be honored, each according to his rank. This 
will account in part for the attachment of the Chinese to 
their own country, and their belief that their form of 
government is superior to any other. It will go far also 
towards accounting for the long continuance of the em- 
pire. ‘There is another reason why the Chinese govern- 
ment, though in many respects weak and often with an 
empty treasury, still holds together; the reason is this, 
viz: because anciently it was taught, and because still 
by most of the people it is believed, that the emperor is 
the vicegerent of Heaven and Earth to receive their com- 
mands, and in their stead to govern the people of the 
earth ; hence to disregard the commands of the emperor 
is to disobey the mandates of Heaven ; hence, also, the 
Chinese have for ages believed that China was the middle 
kingdom, that the Chinese emperor was above all the 
kings and princes of the earth, and that he is entitled to 


THE WHOLE DUTY OF MAN. 495 


homage and tribute from the rulers of all the outside 
countries and islands. 


THE FIVE RELATIONS—-THE. WHOLE DUTY OF MAN. 


After a thorough examination of the doctrines taught 
by the Chinese sages, we infer that the sum of their 
moral code would be an observance of the duties be- 
longing to what they are accustomed to style the “ Five 
Relations ;” and indeed, we find an express declaration 
to this purport, viz: that the whole duty of man consists 
in an “observance of the five relations of society, the 
taking care in regard to food, and for funeral ceremonies, 
and for sacrifices.” The “Five Relations” are, those ex- 
isting between emperor and prince, father and son, hus- 
band and wife, between brothers, and between friends. 

There is no mention, as we see, of man’s relations 
to his Maker ; wherefore some religious teachers whom 
we know are accustomed, when speaking on this subject, 
to say, that it is necessary to add one to the category, 
and to speak of the Six RELATIONS, rather than of FIvE 
—adding this: the relation between God and man, as the 
first and most important. 

The “Five Constant Virtues” are very often men- 
tioned in connection with the Five Relations. Those 
Five Virtues are, Benevolence, Righteousness, Polite- 
ness, Wisdom, Sincerity. 


THE ORIGINAL HEART. 


_ That which will by many be regarded as the most no- 
ticeable feature in the discussions of Confucius and Men- 
cius is the prominence they give to moral subjects, and 
the manner in which they treat them. 


406 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


Their views regarding human nature as good, the fact 
that no person is found who is altogether good, the in- 
ference, therefore, that all mankind very early by some 
means lose their “ good heart,” the earnest exhortations 
to recover that lost good heart, the standard of perfec 
tion which the sages have set up, their notions as to what 
constitutes perfection, the complaint that, after all their 
efforts to reform society, they still find no perfect exam- 
ples, and their own confessions of inability to attain to 
the fullness of the stature of even what they regard as 
the perfect man; all these are subjects which have ar- 
résted our attention, and on which we have meditated 
much. 

Evidently the doctrine of the Four Books is, that man 
is by nature good: over and over again is this repeated. 

Some have chosen to understand Mencius as intend- 
ing to say no more than this, viz: “ That man has a na- 
ture which is constituted for the practice of virtue.” 
Gladly would we put such construction upon his words 
if it might consistently be done. But the Chinese gen- 
erally do understand him as saying, without qualification, 
that man’s nature is good ; and just that is the first sen- 
tence of the Trimetrical Classic, the first book put into 
the hands of the pupils in all their schools ; which, ac- 
cording to one translation, reads thus: 

“Men at their birth are by nature radically good. 

In this all approximate, but in practice widely diverge. 

If not educated, the natural character is changed.” 

That this is what we must understand Mencius as 
meaning to say is clear from his exhorting men “to re- 
cover again their child’s heart,” by which he means their 
original heart. 


ORIGINAL HEART. AO7 


Mencius said, “The tendency ot man’s nature to good 
is like the tendency of water to flow downwards.” | 

“Tf men do what is not good, the blame cannot be 
imputed to their natural powers.” 

“To preserve one’s mental constitution, and nourish 
one’s nature, is the way to serve heaven.” 

“ The great end of learning is nothing else but to seek 
for the lost mind.” 

Again, the term used by Chinese for conscience is, the 
“ Good heart ;” which they universally explain as mean- 
ing the original good heart. 


HOW TO RECOVER THE LOST HEART, 


While Mencius taught the doctrine of man’s original 
goodness, it was still obvious to him that the child soon 
gives evidence of wanting in perfection ; therefore he con- 
cluded that the reason for this early straying from the 
correct course must be owing to the prevalence of bad 
examples. That which is lost, however, may be recov- 
ered. In his estimation, the losing of the original heart 
is like one’s wandering from the right road—a mere de- 
viation from the path of virtue. Thus it is he discourses 
about Benevolence, Propriety, and Righteousness: “Be- 
nevolence is the wide house in which men should dwell; 
Propriety is the correct position in which the world 
should ever be found; and Righteousness is the great 
path which man should ever be pursuing.” 

Confucius and Mencius had no record of that fall 
which is so great that, in order to recover what was 
thereby lost, man must undergo such a change as that 
about which a ruler of the Jews once heard when, under 


408 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


cover of the darkness, he went to seek instruction from 
one who was called Jesus. 


THE CONTEST BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL. 


Mencius sometimes seems to talk as though, in his 
view, there were antagonistic principles in man—a will 
to do good, and an opposing propensity to evil ; as when 
he says, “’Those who follow that part of themselves which 
is great are great men; those who follow that part of 
themselves which is little are little men.” This, how- 
ever, is only saying in other words that men know what 
ought to be done better than they do it. He had ob- 
served, what all men experience, that conscience prompts 
~ to one course of action, while the natural desires urge in 
another direction. Still it is not the struggle between 
nature and grace of which Paul speaks. 

By the “great part of ourselves” of which Mencius 
speaks, we may understand him to mean the moral ele- 
ments of our constitution ; by the “lower part,” the ap- 
petites and passions ; and in this we have Mencius testi- 
fying that man is a law unto himself; that he has a law 
written on his heart ; a conscience which accuses, or ex- 
cuses. 


PERFECT VIRTUE—HOW PERFECT WAS IT? 


As to the definition of perfect virtue—the measure of 
the perfect man—we have in our reading of this volume 
noticed that the standard proposed by the sages was im- 
measurably below the standard of the Scriptures. ‘They 
had no idea at all of perfect holiness. Their notions of 
perfect virtue were, after all, only comparative—nothing 


PERFECT VIRTUE. 409 


like that of which we conceive when we read in another 
Book about what will be, “ When we all come in the 
unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of 
God, unto the perfect man, unto the measure of the 
stature of the fullness of Christ.” They knew not of that 
law which reaches to the thoughts and intents of the 
heart; they had no clear apprehension of the exist- 
ence and of the attributes of the God who is the author 
of this law, who is infinitely pure, and righteous alto- 
gether, and who requires us to be holy even as he is 
holy; they had no conception of the glorious heights of 
heavenly wisdom, righteousness, and purity, to which all 
those will surely be elevated who, by the law as their 
school-master, are brought to Christ, and who yield them- 
selves to the renewing and purifying influences of the 
Holy Spirit. 

Far, however, as was the standard of perfect virtue 
which was set up by Confucius and Mencius below that 
of the Bible, we must, nevertheless, acknowledge that it 
is as nearly perfect as anything which man has put forth 
in any age. 

The old Grecian and Roman philosophers did not 
rise higher in their ideal of perfection than did Confu- 
cius, and we doubt if they rose so high ; and no preach- 
ers of mere morality of our own times, point out nobler 
aims than did the Chinese sages ; nor can they urge the 
people to the attainment of them with more enthusiasm, 


diligence, and persistency than did those sages and their 
disciples. 


The reader has found the examination of this book 


interesting, for one reason among others—because it has 
18 ; 


_410 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


-enabled him to see how near to the truth people may 
come who were situated as were the early inhabitants of 
China, and without the light of revelation ; and having 
had our admiration called forth at this point, we are very 
anxious to press our investigations further, until we as- 
certain what this system of teaching has done for China, 
and what it accomplished in the persons of the sages 
themselves, 


WHAT HAS CONFUCIAN PHILOSOPHY EFFECTED IN CHINA? 


On this subject we observe that the experiment, as to 
what philosophy can do for a nation, has been tried — 
under the most favorable circumstances, and tried un- 
weariedly ; and if it was possible to succeed anywhere, 
it must have succeeded in China: therefore, after a train- 
ing of twenty-three centuries, we might have expected to 
find in the MIDDLE KINGDoM a people nearly perfect— 
perfect when tried by the “measuring line” of the Confu- 
cian school. 

When Confucius was delivering his lectures, collating 
the histories and moral discourses of the ancient em- 
perors, and writing out his own counsels and reflections, 
he had the field almost entirely to himself: there were 
not then, as there are now, many different systems of 
religion and conflicting doctrinal schools. Confucius 
was himself highly esteemed for wisdom, sincerity, and 
goodness by the people of the age in which he lived, and 
by succeeding generations he was regarded as endowed 
with heavenly virtues. 

When Confucius died, his principles were not suffered 
to die; but after him came forth upon the stage many 


THE RESULTS OF THE CONFUCIAN PHILOSOPHY. 41f 


admiring and zealous disciples, to reiterate his discourses 
and to transmit them unimpaired. 

China, for a long series of ages, has not lacked the 
means for transmitting records and instructions. Before 
the invention of paper, bamboo slips were prepared, en- 
graved, and strung together ; and these were their books. 

Every generation since Confucius, so far as we have 
evidence, has had its readers, lecturers, and essayists, 
whose object has been to exhort the people to virtue, to 
point out and properly characterize all evil practices ; and 
the texts, with a large portion of the matter of their dis- 
courses, have been drawn from the writings: of their an- 
cient teachers. Asan example of such efforts, the reader 
will call to mind that “Confucian Tract” amongst the 
“ Selections.” 

They had their schools, and we know that always since 
Confucius and Mencius, the writings and compilations 
of those masters, and of their disciples, have been the 
text books studied by all the scholars, whether young or 
old. Another thing is true, viz: that the Chinese of all 
classes and all occupations delight in quoting the sayings 
of the sages. Ordinary conversation is embellished by 
sentences from the classics, and this among the poorest 
of the people. Maxims, precepts, poetical extracts, are 
_ written on their door posts, on their tea-cups, their fans, 
their chairs, in the “ rest-houses,” by the way-side—ev- 
erywhere, and whichever way they turn, these exhorta- 
tions to virtue are awaiting the glance of the dweller in 
his house, and the mace on the road. 

This teaching begins with the first dawn of the intel- 
lect, and follows the person till the eyes and ears have 
ceased from -their office as inlets of knowledge, and the 


412 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


man goes to render an account for the use which he has 
made of their services. 

Again, China has been isolated more than any other 
great nation has been. Whatever of good it possessed; 
it was able to keep; whatever evil it did not want, it 
could, in a great measure, keep at a distance. 

And now we may submit the question to any reasona- 
ble person, whether the experiment as to what philosophy 
and the teaching of morality can do for man could have 
ever been tried under more favorable circumstances ? 

1st. There was the seed, as good and pure as mere 
philosophers have ever offered to the world. 

2d. There was the soil, fully as susceptible of receiv- 
ing good seed as has ever been found upon this earth ; 
and that was at first almost a virgin soil, not preoccupied 
by the rank weeds of many heresies and false religions. 

3d. There were the husbandmen zealous and untiring 
in sowing, in weeding, and in watering. 

And now will the reader walk through the field and 
give a report as to what kind of a harvest there has been, 
or is in prospect ; and then having ascertained the na- 
ture and results of this husbandry elsewhere, he will be 
prepared to report on the desirableness or otherwise of 
relying upon similar means for elevating other races to 
the rank of civilized and enlightened nations. 

Would it in our own country be desirable to throw 
away the Bible and adopt Confucius: or with Confu- 
cius to combine the best of the old Grecian and Roman 
philosophers ? ei 

Remove our candlestick, and how long before we will 
be where are at the present hour the four hundred mil- 
lions of people, nearly all of whom daily hear or repeat 


THE SAGES MOURN TIIEIR FAILURE. 413 


portions of the Confucian philosophy and Confucian mo- 
rality. 


THE SAGES MOURN THE FAILURE OF THEIR EFFORTS TO 
REFORM MANKIND. 


Even the sages themselves saw how difficult was the 

task they had undertaken. They labored earnestly and 
sincerely, but they were working in the dark. They 
offered themselves as physicians to cure a very sick pa- 
tient, but they neither understood the malady, nor did 
they furnish sufficiently efficacious remedies. ‘They pre- 
sumed upon a sound constitution in the patient—they 
supposed that his nature was good, his heart right: they 
knew not how corrupt it was, and that it needed to be 
renewed before the motives could be pure, and then the 
actions right. They supposed that man had only wan- 
dered from the path of uprightness, and that he might 
easily turn and regain it. They knew not that man is so 
blinded and so perverse that he will never find the path, 
and never be willing to walk in it till he is made to see 
by Him who caused the scales to fall from the eyes of 
Saul, and till He who works in men to will and to do, 
turns their feet into the ways of righteousness. 
_ The sages, we say, perceived how hard it was to per- 
suade men to be good. How frequent and how sorrow- 
ful were the lamentations of Zhe Master: “A good man 
it is not mine to see; could I see a man possessed of 
constancy, that would satisfy me.” 

“Ts any one able for one day to apply his strength to 
virtue? I have not seen the case in which his strength 
would be sufficient.” 


AI4 _ EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


~ “Alas! how is the path of the Mean untrodden. The: 
course of the Mean cannot be attained to.” 

“The course of the Mean is not far to seek: each 
man has the law of it in himself, and it is to be pursued 
with earnest sincerity.” 

Similar also were his laments respecting himself. He 
claimed not to be perfect ; he lamented that he had_not. 
attained even to that standard which he held up for oth- 
ers: he says, “In letters, I am, perhaps, equal’ to other 
men ; but the character of the perfect man, carrying out 
in his conduct what he professes, is what I have not yet 
attained to.” ae 

We admire his lofty aspirations, and his struggles for 
the attainment of perfect virtue. We admire the zeal 
and vigor with which he endeavors to invite, to animate, 
and to urge his countrymen on in the “great path of © 
righteousness ” till they should reach the “correct posi-— 
tion of propriety,” and “ dwell in the wide house of benev- 
olence.” We said that we were inspired with admiration 
while standing the spectators of these endeavors of the 
Master to attain for himself unto the stature of the “su- 
perior man,” and we could applaud his efforts to awaken 
in others the same desires, and to direct them in the 
pursuit of the same end. But while we admire the zeal 
and perseverance with which both Confucius and Men- 
cius labor to urge their countrymen on in the ways of 
virtue, we also have to deplore the impotency of their 
efforts, and grieve with them over the fruitlessness of 
their exertions. 

Behold! Yonder is the elevated plain—not those lofty 
peaks gilded with the light which shines forth from that 
city which has a light above the brightness of the sun ; 


THE SAGES MOURN THEIR FAILURE. 415 


the heights towards which He who came down from heav- 
en alone can lead us, towards which angels beckon us, 
and in finding which the Bible only is our chart—but 
yonder is the elevated ground where is the correct posi- 
tion of propriety and the great house of benevolence in 
which dwells the superior, the perfect man. A few men 
of noble soul start on their journey thither: they believe 
the ascent will be easy, and they desire to lead all oth- 
ers with them. But the road is found to be more difficult 
than was expected, the mountain sides are steeper than 
was supposed, man is weaker than they thought him to 
be, more temptations spring up in the way to lure them 
away from the rugged steeps, to places of repose and sen- 
sual enjoyment. The leaders make repeated efforts to 
rally the straggling, loitering, weary multitudes, and when 
they have entirely failed with the first company they 
gather others, hoping that with them they may meet with 
more success. Many applaud the enterprise, and start. 
upon the journey; but, like those who set out before 
them, they too in a little while despair of reaching the 
eminence ; with them, as is common to human nature, 
the love of ease, and the prospect of present gratification, 
are stronger motives than the attainment of perfect vir- 
tue for its own sake, or for the benefits which may be 
realized by the possession of it. 

“The Masters ” bewail the failure of their efforts in 
urging others up the hill, and say, “Alas! how is the 
path of the Mean untrodden ;” but for themselves they 
think that surely they will reach, wiil repose in, and will 
end their days in that “wide house’? wherein dwells the 
perfect man; and so they climb and struggle up, but 
temptation overcomes them, and they fall; they rise and 


416 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


endeavor to regain the ground from which they had fallen 
back ; but climbing is wearisome, the flesh is weak, the 
height still is far above them, life wears to its termina- 
tion, and they too sink down, finding themselves still far 
below the point towards which they had aimed. 

Are we not reminded here of one in another place who 
exclaimed, “The good that I would, I do not; but the 
evil which I would not, that I do.” And are we not im- 
pressed with the necessity, amongst all people and in all 
ages, for the same agency to “work in man to will and 
to do” as that on which the individual here referred to 
relied for power to gain the victory in his struggle to at-- 

tain to the stature of the perfect man? 


DESPAIRING OF PERFECTION BY WORKS, OTHER METHODS 
ARE SOUGHT. 


The question here arises, What became of the multi- 
tudes who despaired of reaching the high position to 
which their leaders pointed them ? 

The history of the introduction of idolatry and false 
religions into China, and the gradual increase of super- 
stitions there, answers this question. 

Had the course recommended by the sages been some- 
thing that was easy, and quite agreeable to man’s natural 
love of ease, and his aversion to effort and constant vig- 
ilance, multitudes would have followed their guidance. 
But, as it was, they found the path of virtue too steep 
and rugged ; they failed to obey the precepts of their 
masters ; and failing to obey, conscience rebuked them. 

Seeing the goal still so far away, feeling so strong a 
disinclination to exertion, but with a sleepless monitor 


OTHER METHODS Or JUSTIFICATION. 417 


within ever admonishing them that either there must be 
an upright life, or some punishment for transgression, 
some penalty for short-coming, they felt constrained to 
look around for any other method by which either their 
deficiencies could be made up and their transgressions 
atoned for, or else they must find gods whose attributes 
are more in accordance with the lower attributes of their 
own nature, and whose service is more pleasing to the 
selfish heart. 

Man naturally loves an easy religion ; and a religion 
of forms is easier than a religion of faith. A religion of 
forms is even easier than a religion of morality ; for he 
who attempts to square his conduct by the Decalogue will 
find himself always obnoxious to the penalty, both in re- 
gard to sins of omission and of commission: and he who, 
even without especial regard to the Decalogue, still at- 
tempts to obey that mentor within his breast, only in those 
things which reason teaches him are right and wrong, 
will every day find the debit far in excess of the credit 
side of his account with conscience ; therefore, if he either 
does not know how, or does not choose to become com- 
plete in Him who may be made unto us wisdom, and right- 
eousness, and sanctification, and redemption, he will prob- 
ably go in search of some kind of religion which gives 
him something to do ; and, as the history of idolatry, and 
all religions of external rites and ceremonies demon- 
strates, it matters but little what it is he has to do, if only it 
will ease his conscience with the plea that he has been 
serving his god and gaining merit. 

18* 


418 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


WHAT LED CONFUCIUS SO TO MAGNIFY CEREMONIALS? 


The same considerations, as we conceive, help us to 
an explanation of what might otherwise seem unaccount- 
able in the conduct of Confucius himself. The worthy 
translator of the Four Books, in his remarks upon the 
character of the sage, speaks in a way that leads us to 
suppose that those minutiz which are given respecting 
the character.of Confucius had led him to form a less 
exalted opinion of him than before: we refer to such par- 
ticulars as these, viz: his wishing his meat cut fine, his 
sleeping dress half as long again as his body, his mat 
‘straight, and all those particulars in public and social cer- 
emonies which he so frequently and so particularly incul- 
cated. ‘These were things which he could do; and they 
were observances with which he could more easily induce 
the people to conform than the practice.of rigid morality. 

At first he doubtless considered these forms of eti- 
quette of some importance ; but the more he dwelt upon 
them, the more importance they assumed in his esteem ; 
and also the more the teaching of them afforded him en- 
couragement ; because, as we remarked, he could induce 
many to go through all the bendings of the body, the 
turnings, bowings, and knocking of the head ; the atten- 
tion to fashion in dress, and the forms of sacrificial rites, 
whom no amount of argument could convert to lovers of 
virtue, and observers of the laws of reciprocity, of benev- 
olence, and righteousness. 

The Pharisees, when they found the keeping of the 
weightier matters of the law uncongenial with their. nat- 
ural love of ease, and their proneness to courses of life 


PROMINENCE GIVEN TO CEREMONIALS. 419 


forbidden in their law, gave their attention to the enlarg- 
ing of the borders of their garments, to long prayers, 
and much fasting, and a fasting and praying, too, which 
might not fail to be seen of men. They passed over 
judgment and the love of God, and proceeded to the 
tithing of mint, anise, and cummin; and what more 
than this did Confucius do? 

- The perverted imaginations of the Pharisees invented 
and set up a God that would take delight in broad phy- 
lacteries, prayers at the corners of the streets, and tithes 
of rue and garden herbs: Confucius’ wzznstructed imag- 
ination formed to itself a god, or gods, that would be 
satisfied with a very nice care of his person, with his 
punctilious observance of ceremonies, with holding up 
his robe, with dropping his arms straight down by his 
side and fixing his eyes on the ground and looking very 
grave at one time; and with crooking his arms and flap- 
ing his flowing sleeves, like the wings. of a bird, at an- 
other time. 

As we have said, however, the standard of morality 
set up by Confucius and Mencius was high, considering 
that they had not the Bible for their guide ; higher, many 
think, than any Greek or Roman philosopher ever taught ; 
but neither did Confucius nor Mencius profess to be per- 
fect when measured even by their own “ measuring line 
and square.” ‘ 


_ IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 


Did the Chinese sages believe in the immortality of 
the soul? They surely did believe in the existence of 
the soul after the death of the body, and therefo:e the 


420 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


constant inculcation of the duties of sacrificing to the 
spirits of the departed, and the serving of the dead as 
if they were present; therefore, also, the doctrine that 
it was the most unfilial thing not to marry and rear sons; 
for, by the birth of sons, the line of descendants would 
be preserved, and thus the ancestral worship might be 
continued, while otherwise, the line would become ex- 
tinct, and the spirits of the dead would have none to 
serve them. 

Amongst the Chinese of ancient days, as well as 
amongst other people of all ages, there was a desire 
that their memory should be kept green; therefore, 
amongst the recorded conversations. of the Master, we 
find him saying, “ The superior man dislikes the thought 
of his name not being mentioned after death.” | 

There were three elements which entered into this de- 
sire of being remembered. ‘There was the natural dread 
of dying and being forgotten ; the desire of leaving a 
name which might be cherished because of good deeds 
performed ; but, principally, a desire to be remembered 
by those who would nourish, entertain, and serve the de- 
parted spirits, lest, being without surviving descendants, 
the friendless soul would be left to wander hungry, thirsty, 
naked—altogether uncared for and desolate. 

Such, but nothing higher, was the immortality of which 
Confucius and his disciples knew, and about which they 
exercised solicitude. This, however, did not satisfy the 
sage: his was a giant mind, and we can imagine how he 
would have towered upward in sublime discourses about — 
the great God who made all things, about his law and its 
sanctions, and the blessings of him who is the friend of 
God, had he possessed the revelations which were enjoy- 


IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL. 421 


ed by the patriarchs who dwelt in the land of Uz and in 
Chaldea, and by the descendants of those who saw God’s 
wonders in Egypt, in the wilderness, and in the land of 
Canaan. Could he have known what was taught to the 
fishermen of Galilee, and what the young man from Tar- 
sus learned, his themes with his disciples might often have 
been of the life and immortality which to readers of the 
Scriptures are fully brought to light, and then the record 
of the closing scenes of -his life would have been less 
sad than to us they now appear. 

His disciples asked whether he would have prayer 
offered? he answered, “I have prayed.” But to what, 
or to whom, had he prayed? To the spirits of the hills 
and rivers, and of the rain altars ; and to ancestors. 

Standing there on the borders of time, his disciples 
gather around him, and we may presume that they again 
press that question, so anxiously urged on former occa- 
sions, as to what now he might be able to tell them of 
death, of the mysterious future, and of spirits ; but still 
he had only that familiar, but unsatisfactory reply, “ Not 
knowing life, how can we know death? not knowing the ~ 
present, how can we know the future?” And so, straight- 
ening his mat, adjusting his robes, laying his girdle in 
order across his body, observing all the appropriate 
forms of the Book of Rites, he breathes his last in strict 
conformity to the Rules of Etiquette. 


INFLUENCE OF THE CLASSICS ON CHINA. 


What has been the influence of the teachings of Con- 
fucius and his disciples upon China? Undoubtedly, 
very great and beneficial effects have been produced. 


A422 _ EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


Tow is it possible for people to read and hear contin- 
ually such sentiments as the sages taught, and not be 
influenced by them? For the habits of industry, love of 
learning, honor for parents, respect for rulers ; for their 
extreme politeness ; for that desire for the preservation 
of an unblemished reputation in their neighborhood and 
in the sphere in which they act as business men and pub- 
lic officers, the credit must be sey awarded to their 
' ancient teachers. 

But there are also effects of another kind which we 
cannot fail to observe, and which are sadly in the way 
of improving the Chinese, whether in politics, in science, 
or religion. 

The universal belief being that Confucius was a holy 
man, taught by Heaven—even called the equal of Heaven 
—the presumption has always been that there could be 
nothing worth learning which Confucius and his disciples 
did not teach. i 

The Pharisees of old were proud, self-righteous, and 
unimpressible, because they could say, “ We have Abra- 
ham to our father ;” every Chinaman feels the same 
pride in being able to boast an interest in Confucius. 
To belong to the nation that produced a Confucius, and 
that possesses the books of Confucius, is, in their esti- 
mation, greater glory and a greater privilege than is en- 
joyed by any other people “under the whole heavens.” 

Chinese teachers, elders, and parents are constant in 
their exhortations to the young not to forget or. neglect 
the instructions of the ancients. Especially when the 
people emigrate to foreign countries, do the older men 
feel called upon to use a double diligence.in regard to 
their young people; handbills are posted, the parents 


REVOLUTIONIZING AGENCIES. 423 


and guardians, elder brothers and relatives, exhort the 
younger to remember the instructions of the sages, and 
to be careful not to forsake the religion of their ances- 
tors ; “Jesus,” as they say, “may do for foreigners ; but 
Confucius is the holy man of China.” “ He that fails in 
the duties due to departed spirits, who in future years 
will sacrifice to his manes ?” 


REVOLUTIONIZING AGENCIES NOW AT WORK. 


But strong and, to mere human vision, unyielding as 
may seem these fetters of pride, prejudice, and reverence 
for antiquity, there nevertheless is a power that can break 
them. The gospel has its trophies in China, numbered 
by thousands: its power has been seen in California. 
There are also other agencies in operation which are 
gradually, but surely, working a revolution in the Chinese 
mind. 

- We need only to refer to some of these agencies and 
influences. 

Providence has thrown open the gates of China, which 
for thousands of years had remained locked and barred ; 
and now foreigners are penetrating every part of China, 
and Chinese are visiting every portion of the globe in- 
habited by man; and surely by this “running to and.fro, 
knowledge must be increased.” ‘The thousands of enter- 
prising men and susceptible youth mingling on these 
shores with our intelligent men of business ; the men and 
~boys employed in Christian families will, on their return, | 
carry home to their native land a fund of knowledge, and 
impressions which will work like leaven through the vast 
masses inhabiting their “eighteen provinces.” The stim- 


A424 - EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


ulus already given to commerce and to travel by the 
opening of a monthly steam communication with China, 
is but a foreshadowing of what is to be. Before long 
telegraphic lines will place us as near to China as we are 
to London. On these shores thousands of Chinese youth 
are learning to talk and to read our language. At all 
the ports in China where our people reside there are 
schools in which our language is taught and our books 
are read ; and recently, at the capital, the emperor has 
established and endowed a school for teaching the youth- 
ful members of the noble families, and the sons of the 
high officers, in the sciences of foreign nations, and in 
the English language. 

To show that the Chinese are still a reading, and a 
book making people, we have only to refer to such works 
as those prepared by Commissioner Lin after he was 
relieved from the custody of his seals of office. He 
obtained the assistance of a young man who had been 
taught in the Mission schools of Canton, and by compi- 
lation and original matter prepared many volumes, which 
might be called an Encyclopedia of Geography and His- 
tory, with various statistics relating to foreign countries. 
A similar work was performed by a high officer at Ning- 
po, not many years since, during a period of comparative 
retirement from the cares of public life. Another evi- 
dence we cite in the form of a newspaper item, of the 
date at which we are writing : 

“In the city of Fuhchow there is a native publishing 
house, employing more than a hundred workmen. The 
houst has issued over one thousand different publica- 
tions, one of them being a book extending to forty or 


REFLECTIONS. 425 


fifty volumes. This fact gives one an impressive idea of 
the literary character of the Chinese.” 


REFLECTIONS. 


Confucius taught much that our own people might find 
a useful study. In many things the least educated Chi- 
naman might be an example unto us. But Confucian 
ethics have done all that any mere philosophy or moral 
code is able to do for China. 

Christianity has put ws in possession of everything 
_ that we enjoy which is superior to what our neighbors 
have attained. 

Taught by Confucius, every Chinaman is accustomed 
to repeat, “ All between the four seas are brethren ;” 
while in our Holy Book we read that God “hath made 
of one blood all nations of men.” 

We who read the Sermon on the Mount have the 
Golden Rule as well as have they who read Confucius. 
What we would have done for ourselves in similar cir- 
cumstances, we can if we choose do for the Chinese. 

The higher civilization, the purer enjoyments, and the 
glorious hopes of immortality which we enjoy, may now 
be placed within their reach. 


Were such characters as Confucius and Mencius to 
visit our country in these days from any foreign land, 
how would the nation delight to honor them! Colleges 
would confer upon them their highest degrees, the -wri- 
tings of those sages would be assigned a prominent place 
in all public libraries, and the countrymen of Confucius 


426 EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


and Mencius would be treated with proper respect and 
consideration. ; 

It may be well to remember that when our ancestors 
were living in bark huts, wearing the untanned skins of 
animals, worshiping Woden and Thor, the Sun and the 
Moon, and offering human victims in sacrifice, China 
was the most civilized nation on the globe. 

No new argument need be adduced showing why we 
should treat with kindness the people who visit us from 
that empire which began its existence soon after those 
bands (separated by the confusion of tongues) departed 
their several ways from the plains of Shinar. 

No people capable of appreciating such sentiments as 
are contained in the books from which this volume has 
been compiled—no people who, from childhood to old 
age, are constantly drilled in the study and practice of 
such rules of etiquette as we have cited, can fail to pos- 
sess many of the elements of gentlemen: and as we 
desire not to forfeit a right to that distinction ourselves, 
we will be careful not to countenance any rude or im- 
proper behavior towards others, whatever may be the 
language they speak. or the garments they wear. 


THE END. 


INDEX. 


CONFUCIUS. :AND THE CHINESE CLASSICS. 


PAGE 
PREFACE eeees eeevece e@eceevose @e@eeeeeceoe*®eeaeteeeveeeeeet en eae 7 
PARTI, 
HISTORY. AND BIOGRAPIIY. 
1. Chinese History down to the Christian Era..... oensecese 15 
SCM RIN. OF (CMINA. 5 > os co wcccxrenstsetctosncepes 27 
eae CON 6.5 2 ooh. 6:a Sere owe vee as is ame amcw oth ek 44 
PART’ II. 
THE FOUR BOOKS. 
Bp REFOGUCHOR © < ose cccecsss tic ravsesecevttente oye manele Om 
BOOK Tf. 
CHAPTER L 
LUN YU, OR CONFUCIAN ANALECTS. 
CONFUCIUS. 
1. What the Disciples of Confucius say of their Master.... 67 
2. What Confucius says of himself ..............-..000008 7° 
3e Eulogium—Demeanor of Confucius in his Village, in the 
Ancestral Temple, and in the Court............... 75 
CHAPTER IL. 
THEOLOGY AND RELIGION. 
1. Heaven Decrees, Helps, Rewards, and Punishes........ 82 
2. Serving the Spirits, and Worship of Ancestors.......... $3 


3- Confucius had not heard of the Atonement............. 85 


428 . INDEX. 


CIIAPTER III. 
DOMESTIC RELATIONS, 


Par. 
ROP IMO: EICLY» 5 .vsa'nn.a eins ace sberm apy awe ccc eceneeabesvecs (200 
2. Social Intercourse 3.5.-f5 vedo dees os “de a vuln ev CRO HOE RE <a ae 
qo on Litigahon..... 2, ii tass ees tenets ss coals PTT ORT ee 

CHAPTER IV. 

ETHICS, 

Sr SV SCEUE ois poe wane Erntocks bab Seok abe Ke cies s Mine elena ae 
2, No examples of Perfect Virtue... o..c:. a é0 cd in hu oe 97 
3. Pne Rule of Life in One Wordinc: sic cicsvseneeeewen 97 
4. The Superior Man—the beau ideal of Virtue ........... 98 
5. On the Formation of Character ............. i ecaueeun 103 
6. Wisdom and Knowledge 5 0.6.4 ise sinc dene sic's cee en eos 105 
Fs LF TODTIOLY wig ct tae iad kb Ses p bes 6 Tt ue SO Mose cee 106 
3d rntnminess and. Sincerityy 46250526 beds vest se sae ees 107 
Ne POC ANION 5. hc coe nis nes 4 <0 Mh nave oe NE MAES S CNet IIO 
10. Diligence, Temperance, Politeness. ..........eeseeeeees 112 
DL RSOMCIOS SIBUES, 5 ics ct warce so poy Cap he eee ebabes te vaenee 113 

CHAPTER V. 

ON GOVERNMENT. 
h. PRVICE NOE TONGS a cs cee vee cee ys ake es is aiee. SEG 
2. Instructions for Princes and Ministers...........++. ive wes 
3. Examples of well-governed States........eseeeeeseees - 124 

CHAPTER VI. 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

To AMOMUNG w0.ece wea ce ets ges ss Sex u bwahe Melee aise a 6x tise aces 
2° Detached Sentences: '.. 3.62.48 Bee fe oe oe Seeae ets ce ETO) 
BOOK JI. 

TAI HOK, OR GREAT LEARNING. 
CHAPTER I. 

GOVERNMENT OF FAMILY AND STATE, 

1. Self-control a prerequisite to Family Government: Family 


1S) 


Government a prerequisite to Governing a State.... 131 
What the Ruler would have his People be, he must be 
himself... cceccecseesscvevesevsvsce eeseceeccece 133 


INDEX. 429 


CHAPTER II. 


STATE OFFICES AND EMOLUMENTS. 


PAGE. 
1. The evil consequences when Offices are sought on account 5 
OE SIE FOMONNENS «0.0. sie oi sceds ew wee wwrsd vet ees . 135 
CHAPTER III. 
SELF CULTURE. 
SIR MIMICS So '6s 5s 5.dcnc odbc sewn 6 0tae.s sd Sas mde pends Lae 
2. On having the Thoughts sincere........0..2eececesceees 140 


BOOK JI. 
THE CHUNG YUNG, OR DOCTRINE OF THE MEAN. 
_ PROLEGOMENA BY THE PHILOSOPHER CHING. | 
CHAPTER I. 


THE PATH OF DUTY—ITS ORIGIN IN HEAVEN. 
1. A perfect nature conferred on all; but the path of virtue is 


NNER SPEMEITEY 9S ah'0. 6 hia < wo Ado tinier timp ehieceinl GER aie Paleww red 143 
2. The Golden Rule negatively and positively expressed. Con- 
fucius confesses not having attained to it........... 144 


3. Perform your duty, nor murmur at Heaven’s appointments 145 


CHAPTER II. 
PICTURE OF THE PERFECT MAN. 
1. A portraiture of the perfect Man who walks in the path of 


z. Confucius the equal of Heaven............0.000- ee ae 


CHAPTER III. 
STANDARD RULES FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE EMPIRE, 


CHAPTER IV. 
RELIGION. 
1. Filial duties due to the dead as to the living ............ 153 
2. Respecting spirits......... bn tole atipae ees ne o's'S wneie'e<) 154 


3. About omens .........2.+085 pore ee iae xs cee ARE 


430 INDEX, 


Pace. 
1. The five Duties and three Virtues ...... ovievseeuen eces 156 
2. Domestic Happiness............- sede veeeee wiweneaeee 157 
BOOK IV. 
MENCIUS., 
$o Sis (08 Mencins 2 6o5ainasvciv cdots OPE TET Pere 
CHAPTER I. 
ON GOVERNMENT. 
1. Rulers appointed by Heaven........... So.k Mstesp wie KI ee 
2. Instruction for Princes and Public Officers........... <a» 208 
3. In the choice of Ministers, be not guided by the reports 
WE ORES cn onc es va cians pie sds kde whee a 169. 
4. Govern on principles of Benevolence and Righteousness. 
Rulers must themselves be wise and good.......... 170 
5. Benevolent Government secures the affections of the sub- 
NGRNS [ors Foose ans aus disown ss teak kel ee hla real 175 
6. The support and comfort of the aged a religious duty.... 176 
Fe GUC Ot OD PYCRDION: sc ccc css conde tas ous they eee 177 
8. Be prepared to resist invasion...... 5.0 wa eu cee eae 178 
9. Rulers govern by their example’. 5 5.0946 50856 bean aan 178 
10. The family the root of the State. He who governs him- _ 
self may govern a family; he who can govern his 
family may govern a State....... nssddcs ua ne heme 179 
It. POLITICAL ECONOMY ........... swe ee ea tune neue we ale 180 
TZ, OD DOVVINE FARES: 6 oie sa soon s 00 cep se we ss twee Naiesineee 185 
13. SDIVISION GE DADO :5 oo svn eo cid x tints 9:6 sis sss waved oce'e gikRiee 189 
14. Encourage learning and commerce........e-eeereeesees 193 
15. Cultivation of the fine arts a help to good government... 194 
16. Effects of good government.........+...0. $c cab aapatens 199 
Ry. Effects of bad Government, 3 2.0. is Wisco oss <0 ag 200 98 eutee 203 
18. The emperor’s tour of inspection......seseeesseseeeees 203 


CHAPTER V. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


INDEX.” 431 


CHAPTER IL. 
METAPHYSICS AND MORALS. 
Pace 
1. Passion nature..........- PES OOS PEPE T ER ET 205 
2. The original heart. The Chinese sages’ view of human 
NALUTE. . cece recs eccsccercrerescesees Cee ever eces 210 
3. Heaven decrees—Heaven directS.........--.s2eeeseees 218 
4. Heaven rewards and punishes. Be in harmony with the 
oremances Of GOGrsc i ccysasee csr see cetscde sense 219 
5. Do right ; leave events with Heaven.........e+eeeeeees 219 
6. Love righteousness more than life .....-.e+eeeeeseees a oe 
7. The golden rule—selfishness unprofitable ..... Reais bad 223 
CHAPTER III. 
IDEAL OF THE PERFECT MAN. 
Tee RE SEDETION WAY i gw occ 5d cess sinie eva weds oa clep sees es ee 225 
2. The good man delights in what is good........+++.+++-+ 227 
3. On BORN SS 2 NLS. So ocge cet pundian sSewed 228 
4. Knowledge is sdeuea by successive steps, and by per- 
PELE oo is cs BUS bn dw 8S ew AAR eee ORE aD 230 
5. Diligence and fidelity the way to preferment........+...+ 231 
6. Trials and hardships prepare for great services.........+ 233 
7- Unmerited fame not Jasting ......... a pain Sees eet 234 
CHAPTER IV. 
DOMESTIC REGULATIONS. 
1. On the choice of a residence and associates........-+++- 236 
Peer EIR AD MOVCIUINENE 5 is:c's cca eo isi vaaew odpeasessuases 240 
3. Filial and fraternal duties.......... shasieenn Eales mhem Se sb 241 
BPS OOUSAISSS 6c wis ids sida Cains boc u b md ded eey s,s 407 seas 242 
5. Marriage rites, women’s duties, court etiquette.......... 243 
PROSE TUCS dns sa egarsaseesete's s NAO PUE EY Bre tre 245 
es DIGEITINE TOL PATENES 5 o'ois's aint es so..09 to0.0gavenednces 246 
tN We win oo cc Win ode sho o34 Chie kes ieoeeeeds 249 
g. On giving and receiving presents ......escccceevesrenes 249 
CHAPTER V. 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


{ SRRMMMICAE BURAIIAD cx bass + Seka see cee er ene Eas ret ueks « 251 


432 INDEX. 


PAGE 
2. Items cuntaining references tu ancient emperors......... 252 
ras etA Od GEMLCNCES 5 54s pac Sule e bw cet oc emasO rane nce Seep RHO. 
se TRONS Fo. 535055 ia BS SRE LER ONE Dad Ls eRaieek OE eSS 260 
5. The source from which Mencius derived the doctrines of 
this book .s60 og cdssed ean Si dvaserdweewasesenee 208 
PART III. 
SELECTIONS. 
Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties ..........eee005 -. 265 
Py ORIGINS A TACL ss 5.050. bes oc eens pe ere ere yer Peay ecard 268 
SENET TNCL oa Sog ulecs chiens ped aces bata de Cokes Seiko ae 275 
SEI AMARS 0's os. k v's ek Skea nsw BED Ov NRE SU SA aoe 278 
Extract from The Book of Constant Purity...............55 283 
° “The Wonderful Book on the Removal of Calam- - 
bi a A op PM Seed tedeeee tae sak .. 286 
Tablet Literature........... eae wi sire nee ee Ut hl oa ys 289 
Rarer nor the "Whole Dale 30.653 240s sehen temas st 292 
Rules of Etiquette ..2....... weet bes sts eee samiecinignans’s sa Ve 293 
The Mirror of the Mind..... Eee SB BPR LGAnS Peseta 307 
Peer ecoctaus. YOUN 2... sccca ssens ceo. PEE ae EE eR 312 
Harmony between Husband and Wife........2eeeeeeeeeees 318 
Thousand Character’ Classic. .3.....i. ct eccecucesccst ee eee 331 
Examples of Pilsal Duty’. oie ok sc:coc ose coed cevns s09 name ee Me”, 
Chinese Moral Maxims ............000. Pere re sy pescse S44 
Apothems and Proverbs.....ccccccccccerescccersscsccnens 351 
Aphorisms by Dr. Hu Tsin-Yang ......scececseeeeees ee 
Ancient Chinese Poetry ........-6. vckide hs Osa a pee ie EE 
Harmonious Water Birds ....... bsinee ane geccee> <p eae 357 
Verses from the Tai Va... i... ise cee scceesncnesccee vans 353° 
MOPHlS OF SHE DOCUDOE. «caver diced anne bentevewe Saeveeeswan 359 
Modern Chinese Poetry..........eccccccevevececcccsccees 360 
A Recent Visit to the Classic Grounds of Cis GA ae 371 
PASS 2. 


EDITORIAL REVIEW. 


Remarks on the doctrines taught by the Chinese sages, and 
their influence on the Chinese mind .........2+0+++ 393 














THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
STAMPED BELOW 


AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 


WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
OVERDUE. 


Son 


oa 








Hr €} 3 BAO « 
VEG 22 1933 

















10LRN| 
























































U. C. BERKELEY LIBRARIES 


ign i T } } j : 
/ } j inn iil 
' iii TEU LTE 
ee il igi | Hite | | | 
Wail iil Rll 
| Hil at itll Wh iW 
i] | Bill Hai iil itil 
i} ; ii Ht} TELL ERI EL EL 
i] il } Wil HH Hi] ial 
i} i anal 1] ail 
ERER il i ii | ial 
' | | Hall | 
| ill i] / menial 
1] ih a i Ee aa) 


CO45414405 





RRA NLYS WATA Set 
5 a uh ‘ 


ees 


eh 
Wi ete At 
eM VAI 
4 Lire Rat 
EE GSS 
way f 


Pan 
te Lod 
ae 


Mr 
LEY 
ey NY % 
FONG 
AY ‘ 3 


h Us 
Me fr 
Saas 2 


Dey 
42 


a 
are 


ay 


Pr ia 
ane 
PiU. 


4, 
Asis 


Rysey ; ue 


Seal 
5 


ales. 


= 


4 


wu 
Oke ‘e aT 
ANY. bea 
ee iy Res 
ety hy Ri 
eeu 


ROO 
PUA ay 
4 hon ot 


bata Tapia 


eda! 
es a 


<9 
- 


ra 
AM ENE, 
Ek aS 
was 

a * webe & 
Pegs 
xy 


ity 


uy 
Alias 
ves 
wis i 
pera 
CAN 
ayat 
wy 





